We Spend Far Too Much Time in the Hospital Wing
by TheEndangeredGinger
Summary: Its the Year 1974: join the Marauders, Mercy, Oakley, and Charlie: a crew of teenage Gryffindors as navigate a world of Quidditch, relationships, discrimination, lies, family complications, and Spectacular Pranking. Rated T for Language and Violence. AUTHOR ON HIATUS! Story on Hold For the Foreseeable Future.
1. Chapter 1- Bored Student's Pastime

**Author's Note:**

**Welcome to my First Story on Fanfiction. net!**

***cricket sounds***

**Oh Well... Enjoy Anyway!**

**Oh! And Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything that was created by Ms. Rowling's lovely hands. **

**Chapter 1- The Bored Student's Pastime**

Mercy rested her chin on her hand as she stared blankly at the chalkboard Professor Burbage was writing on. She glanced over at her best friend Oakley and saw her boredom reflected in her deep brown eyes. Oakley looked over with a wink, flicking her wavy brown, almost black hair over her shoulder and started to write on a blank piece of parchment on their shared desk.

**Not paying attention, I see? I find these lamps simply fascinating.**

Mercy shook her head grinning; a lock of her red hair fell into her face. Brushing it aside in annoyance, she looked to see if she had tucked a bobby pin onto the sleeve of her sweater… but no luck. She picked up her quill and wrote back. _Psh… when do I ever? You know we have at least one lamp in each room at my house. Useless information really._

Oakley's eyes flashed over the parchment. **Well we can't all have the privilege of being a muggleborn… Why are you even taking this class in the first place?**

Mercy furrowed her brow… _You know… I honestly don't remember. It had something to do with you though… But honestly I just can't seem to match Burbage's enthusiasm on plugging in a lamp. _

**Oh, you came over to the dark side to be with me? Bless you. Bless you.** Oakley shot over a cheeky grin.

_Well it's hardly the dark side. Muggles do have all the lamps after all. _Oakley kicked her leg under the table.

"Ouch!" Mercy muttered not quietly enough, for the eyes of Professor Burbage pierced Mercy with a look of disapproval.

"Do you have a question, Miss Baines?" She asked, crossing her arms and twiddling her chalk in her hand.

Mercy bit her cheek, "No professor." Burbage looked dubious but turned back to the chalkboard. Pulling the parchment a little closer to her_, _Mercy wrote _I hardly think a bad pun warrants this kind of abuse. ABUSE I TELL YOU! _

**You had it coming... Can we skive off C.O.M.C. today? I'm not really in the mood to lose a limb to whatever monstrosity the lunatic wants to unleash on us.**

Mercy shook her head. They had already skipped that class too much last year. Her excuses would only get so far. _NO. We can't skip yet. It's too early in the school year._

**But I don't want to die yet! I'm only 14! I haven't lived!**

_Oh hush. I'd rather get detention for doing something worthwhile. All we do when we skip class is hide in our dorm. Let's go to the library after dinner._

Mercy stifled a laugh at Oakley's look of disgust when she read what she had wrote. The scoff attracted the eyes of the professor who simple sent a warning look in Mercy's direction. Mercy looked down at the table, biting her lip.

**Ewww… Not the library. **

_No hear me out. I had an idea, and seeing as your bored I thought you would enjoy some general mayhem._

**Ooh. Intriguing. Care to elaborate, darling?**

_Nope, you'll see dear. I tell you there. _

Oakley sighed. **Fine, but Charlie has to come too.**

Mercy glanced at Charlie who was sitting across the aisle. Is body was hunched over his desk, diligently trying to write down what was on the board. Crumbling up piece of parchment, Mercy waited until Burbage turned around again. Then she discretely threw it at Charlie's head.

The paper hit the mark and bounced off the side of Charlie's face and onto his desk. From behind his blonde hair, his bronze orange eyes narrowed in annoyance. Mercy knew he was silently trying to get her to leave him out of it, but she smirked at him and mimed for him to unfold the paper. He rolled his eyes, but did so nevertheless.

Mercy slipped her wand out of her pocket. She muttered an incantation, tapped her parchment and then flicked her wand at Charlie's. She quickly shoved her wand back in her bag as Burbage's eyes glanced over the class again. The words Mercy and Oakley had scribbled on their paper wiped onto Charlie's.

He sighed and his eyes darted back and forth across the page. He reached the bottom and shot a look of disapproval. He picked up his quill.

Mercy and Oakley watched as his handwriting filed in after theirs on their paper.

_Can you leave me out of this?_

**You don't have anything better to do. Might as well.**

_Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssse? _Mercy stuck out her bottom lip as both she and Oakley looked over at Charlie, who stared back.

He sighed. _Fine… but you can't skip Care of Magical Creatures without me again. _

_I already told Oaks we aren't going to._

Oakley looked over at her. "Come on! I really hate that class." Oakley whispered.

"You should have dropped it then," Mercy whispered back.

"Easy for you to say." She said back, but again too loudly. Professor Burbage turned and threw her chalk at her. Oakley ducked, just in time.

"Miss Milova, pay attention or you and Miss Baines will both have to see me after class." She said.

"Sorry, professor." They both said, sinking back into boredom for the rest of the class.

**Thanks for Reading! If you could do me a favor and shoot me a review, I would really appreciate it. I want to hear any thoughts, especially criticisms! This is a working piece, and I really would like to grow as a writer! **


	2. Chapter 2- The Danger of Fire Crabs

**Author's Note: **

**Here are some things I should have included in the First Chapter, but I am extraordinarily lazy and I'll just put them here.**

Oakley's Writing- **Oakley!**

Mercy's Writing-_ Mercy ;)_

Charlie's Writing- _Charlie…_

**Also, Thoughts will also be italicized… and should look like this.** _'this is how I do thoughts'_

**Disclaimer: **I am obviously not J.K. Rowling, my writing doesn't hold a candle to hers and I don't own Harry Potter: the world or characters… and even if I did, I wouldn't change anything that happened in the books. Siriusly.

**Chapter 2- The Danger of Fire Crabs**

Oakley got out of the Hospital Wing shortly after dinner had started and went down to eat rubbing her arm gingerly. She walked through the doors to the Great Hall and looked for Mercy's red hair at the Gryffindor table.

'_Aha!' _ she thought, spotting her surrounded be her fellow students. There was an empty seat on the bench across from her, and Oakley walked toward it.

"Oi, Oakley! How's your arm?"

Oakley glanced to the side, recognizing it as the voice of Remus Lupin. Oakley noted silently that he looked tired. There were dark circles under his rich chocolate colored eyes and his brown sandy colored hair was a little messier than usual. Other than that he looked perfectly fine, excluding the odd scar he had on his face. Even though he had it as long as Oakley had known him, it still made her feel uneasy: 3 scratches stretched jaggedly from right beneath his left eye to the side of his face below his right ear.

"Fine, I suppose. Madam Pomfrey patched me up pretty well." She said finally.

"That's good" he responded with a smile. She smiled back and flicked her eyes over his companions. Sirius Black was flirting outrageously with the girl sitting next to him, winking his grey eyes, and occasionally brushing back his long black hair. The girl blushed furiously and they kept talking. In between Sirius and Remus was Peter Pettigrew and he was eating. His eyes, blue and on the watery side, were darting back and forth between Sirius and the girl.

Oakley made eye contact with the distinctly messy black-haired friend on the other side of Remus. James Potter, who was a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. _'Which reminds me…' _she thought.

"Hey James. Do you know when Quidditch tryouts are going to be?"

She knew Gryffindor was in need of new players, because four of the previous members of the team had graduated the year before. Mercy and she had been talking about trying out.

James pushed his round frame glasses up the bridge of his nose and with a twinkle in his hazel eyes said, "Yeah, they're on Thursday. Are you trying out this year?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about trying out for keeper. Mercy had said something about seeker."

"Wicked. I guess I'll see you both there." He ruffled his hair, his eyes catching on Lily Evans. It was common knowledge that James nursed a large crush on the red head, who had quite the opposite feelings. Oakley thought this was an ideal time to duck out, before one of their loud squabbles broke out.

"I'm going to go eat now, I'll see you later?" She said. Remus nodded.

"Yeah, see you. Tell Mercy I said hi!" He said.

"I will." Oakley waved and continued down the table and sat down across from Charlie and Mercy, who appeared to be arguing about something. Mercy looked up, her face flushed.

"Oaks! How are you? Are you alright? How bad was it? Is there anything that we can do? I'm so sorry! I should have come over and helped you. Why am I such an idiot? Do you want me to—"

"Mercy! Cool your jets. I'm fine. I've just made a bit of a fool of myself."

"A bit of a fool? Understatement alert," said Charlie after swallowing a huge mouthful of mashed potatoes. Mercy put her face on the table. "Anyway, what on God's green earth would possess you to poke a sapphire fire crab with a stick?"

"I dunno… I was just trying to see if it was awake alright?"

"Why would you poke it on the side its blaster is on?" Mercy asked, her voice muffled against the table.

"Alright, alright, I know that was kind of stupid… but I got this wicked scar on my arm. I might name it Charizard"

Charlie choked on his pumpkin juice and Mercy let out a dry chuckle with her face still on the table.

Oakley grinned. "Charizard it is. Anyway, I was talking to James and he said Quidditch try-outs are Thursday. So we are trying out, right?"

Charlie shook his head. "You guys were serious about that? But we have so much homework."

Oakley rolled her eyes. Sometimes she was surprised he wasn't in Ravenclaw. "Where's your Gryffindor sense of adventure? Merce, are you in?" She poked at Mercy's head with the handle of her butter knife.

Mercy batted at it in a half assed waving motion, but Oakley was triumphant. Mercy raised her head off the table, rubbing her eyes. "Yeah, of course. Do you want to go flying after dinner?"

Oakley nodded, brushing her, "Yeah, I want to try and practice catching right-handed. How do you people do this.?" She cursed herself for injuring her dominant hand right before the tryout.

"Well we can't all be ambidextrous," Charlie said matter-of-factly.

"Well you know me. I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous." Mercy said. Oakley narrowed her eyes, but Mercy grinned cheekily back at her. With her spoon, Oakley flung her peas at Mercy's face, but she ducked. The peas hit a Ravenclaw in the back.

"Sorry…" Oakley said sheepishly when he looked at her. He rolled his eyes and turned back around.

"Anyway Oaks, do you want to meet me in the library later to finish the History of Magic Essay?" Charlie said seriously.

"Ugh…I don't want to. Make Mercy do it." Charlie shook his head.

"Mercy already finished hers." Oakley shook her head.

"Fine, but I'm going to finish eating first and then I have to go to Madam Pomfrey again so she can check on Charizard." said Oakley as she put some more food on her plate.

Mercy started giggling. "Don't you mean Nurse Joy?" Oakley stood up and tossed a bunch more peas at Mercy, who didn't dodge quickly enough. The peas caught in her hair.

"Argh! Noooo! You bitch!" She said, as she shook her head trying to shake out the round pods.

Oakley sat back down and started to eat her potatoes.

"You know what? I was going to give you my essay in case you wanted to look at it, but I don't think I will." Mercy said, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Oakley smirked, "If you don't hand it over, I'll tell him what you said the other day."

Mercy looked confused, "What are you talking about? Who are you…" but then her face flushed bright red. "You wouldn't…" She whispered.

"Wait, what are we talking about?" Charlie looked between both Mercy and Oakley.

Mercy pulled her essay out of her bag and handed it to Oakley. Oakley grinned in triumph. "Not a word. See ya Charlie." Mercy said, and walked out of the hall.

Charlie stared at her. "You aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"Nope." She said, taking another bite of food. She looked at Charlie's empty plate. "How about I meet you in the library in half an hour? You don't have to wait on me to finish eating."

"Yeah, I'll be at the table in the back." Charlie said as he got up from the table.

"Alright, I'll be there. Here, take Mercy's essay." She handed it to him.

Charlie slung his bag over his shoulder. "And do us both a favor and don't tick Madam Pince off before we finish. Okay?"

"I will make no such promises." Oakley stretched and grinned at him. He shook his head and walked away.

**Authors Note- **

**Can you tell me what you thought? Feedback is appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3- What NOT to do in the Library

**Author's Note**

_**Here's my necessary disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I could be a writing genius and come up with something as cool but instead I spend my day writing fanfiction… so yeah. _

_**Ahem, So on with the Story!**_

**Chapter 3- What **_**NOT **_**to do in the Library**

Charlie sat at a table in the back of the library finishing up an essay on Witch Burnings for History of Magic. He read over Mercy's essay.

_On the off chance that Muggles were able to identify a real witch or wizard, attempting to burn them was utterly pointless because a simple Freezing Charm would easily protect them from any harm. This is excluding any cases that the witch or wizard in question was stripped of his or her wand and being unable to defend against the flames. In times such as this, it was fortunate for that person to be with another witch or wizard to help dig them out of trouble. It was quite important for safety in numbers and furthermore being discrete. _

Charlie rubbed his quill underneath his chin. How Mercy was able to remember all this stuff without at least looking at her notes or the text book was beyond him. He had just put the finishing touches on his essay when Oakley sat down at the table next to him and put her bag on the table. "So, what's the sitch?" She asked.

Charlie put his essay in his bag and pulled out his notes from Muggle Studies. "You are an hour late," he said, shooting her an exasperated look.

Oakley shrugged it off. "I had to go back to the hospital wing so Madam Pomfrey could put more paste on the burn. Sadly, she said that it won't scar so I had to say good bye to Charizard. It was quite sad actually."

Charlie grinned and looked back down at his notes.

"Why are you looking at your Muggle Studies notes?" Oakley asked, pulling out her partially completed essay, ink, and a quill. She grabbed Mercy's essay and started to read it over.

"The electricity test is coming up, and I just wanted to look over the material."

He looked up as Oakley shook her head at him. "You are such an overachiever." She pulled out her wand, muttered a spell which made two identical copies of Charlie's thorough notes.

"You are such a lazy bum." He looked at the copy she had just made. "You know, one of these days, I think I might not take notes just to see you and Mercy struggle to take your own."

"You wouldn't do that." Oakley said, frowning at the parchment in front of her.

"That's what you think." Charlie looked back down at his notes. "By the way, what were you talking about earlier? What did Mercy say?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted her essay." Oakley said absentmindedly.

"It was definitely not 'nothing'. She turned bright red!"

Oakley grinned at him. "Why do you care so much?"

"I was just curious! She's my friend." He said defensively.

"Sounds to me you're jealous." Charlie's jaw dropped and he looked at her. Oakley looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. He had never really thought about…

"Oh my gosh, you are!" Oakley's eyes widened. Charlie felt his ears go really red… _'what on earth is this?'_

"What are you talking about?" Charlie didn't like the grin Oakley was giving him.

"You like her! Like you like-like her!" She pointed her finger dramatically at him.

"Wha-! That's- That's not… I mean, I do not!" He sputtered. Oakley rolled her eyes at him, and he felt his face get hotter.

Charlie glared, "Cut it out. I do not"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"DO NOT!" Charlie said a little too loudly. He slammed his hands on the table and stood up glaring down at Oakley. Oakley raised her eyebrows and smirked at him.

"Mr. Amber! Is there some sort of problem?" Madam Pince peered with her signature death stare beyond the bookshelf.

Charlie jumped but regaining a little bit of his composure said sheepishly. "No Ma'am, Oakley and I just had a disagreement." Looking at Oakley pointedly said, "But we are finished now"

Oakley's sly grin stayed plastered on her face.

"Good. Quiet down both of you or you will be removed from the library."

"Yes Ma'am." The two chorused. Madam Pince glared menacingly at the two for what felt like an eternity but eventually stalked off angrily.

Charlie looked back down at his notes only to be interrupted with a prod to the shoulder not one minute later.

"Oh, yeah. Can you do me a favor? My dad's birthday is coming up and I really need your help picking something out that he might like."

Charlie said, "Yeah, fine. But what about Mercy?"

Oakley grinned. "Mercy is shit at that stuff…remember she got me that annoying as hell dancing troll thing?"

Charlie said "Right. Fine.."

He and Oakley returned to their work. But Charlie wasn't thinking about school anymore. All he seemed to be able to think about was Mercy. Her smile… the way she wrinkled her nose when she teased Oakley.

'_I do like her… don't I?' _he thought. But up until that point he just considered her a friend. A good friend, but that didn't mean she felt the same way.

Charlie attempted to shove these thoughts out of his mind, and immerse himself into his notes on electricity.

_**Author's Note:**_

_**So what do you think? Do you have any questions? Stuff that doesn't make sense? Have a suggestion? Liked something you read or absolutely hated it? **_

_**Well do I have news for you! There is a place below where you can shoot me a review and believe it or not, I will read them and probably send you something back. Whether a humorous anecdote or an answer. Writing is a tug and pull kind of thing: It has no meaning unless someone reads it. So if you are reading it I want to know what you think.**_

_**So Review. Please?**_


	4. Chapter 4- Justice Will Be Swift!

**Author's Note**

**Necessary Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**Sorry I wasn't feeling very creative today. Blah…**

_**Chapter 4: Justice Will Be Swift!**_

Mercy had nestled herself in a comfy chair right in front of the fire, re-reading some Spiderman comics from her brother. The paper smell good, a smell like peppermints and campfire. This is probably one of the ones he had taken with him to boy scout camp.

Spiderman was walking through the sewers peering around the corner but from behind him…

"Hey"

Mercy jumped right out of her chair and faced the voice. Remus Lupin was standing right there, and jumped at her startled reaction. "You okay?" he asked

Mercy nodded and laughed. "Yeah I was just reading and I didn't see you coming." She collapsed onto the couch next to the chair she had been sitting in. Remus took the spot next to her.

"What are you reading?"

Mercy handed him the comic. "My brother sent it to me with the post."

He flipped through the pages, with an interested look in his eyes. "Cool!" He said, handing it back to her.

Mercy had a tendency to get slightly homesick. Her chest felt a little heavy today, getting his letter reminded her of home. Even though Mercy loved Hogwarts, sometimes the magic in the air wasn't enough to distract her. She stared at the fire thinking about her younger brother. The fire made her think of him, not only because his name was Blaze but also because he, like Mercy, had bright red hair.

When she and Blaze were kids, Mercy could remember playing the game they would simply call imagination. They pretty much would try to out-do the other. Mercy vaguely remembered making odd things happen that neither Blaze nor she could understand. That was, until a man came along and explained everything to her parents. It was all so sudden and remarkable, beyond anything she could have hoped to imagine.

"Mercy, did you hear me?" Mercy blinked several times, pulling out of the vortex of thoughts that had flooded her brain.

"No, sorry. What?" She said.

"Is everything alright?" He asked, "You look a little sad."

"I'm fine, I was just thinking." She waved her hands and smiled.

"That's dangerous. You shouldn't do much of that." Mercy whacked him with one of the red pillows from the chair. He shot her a faux betrayed look and she wrinkled her nose. He picked up the pillow and hit her back with it.

"You are going to regret that!" She leapt over the couch, and grabbed a pillow in each hand.

Remus stared at her. "Oh, this is happening?" He picked up his own pillow in defense.

"Justice will be swift. Justice will be painful. IT WILL BE DELICIOUS!" She shouted as chucked one of her pillows at him. It hit him square in the chest; she ducked as his pillow came at her head. She leapt over the couch and threw her other pillow at him. He deflected it with his pillow and hit her in the side. Mercy dived on the ground and picked up another pillow and whacked his leg with it.

He knelt down to her level and they began whacking at each other for a few minutes. Mercy laughed so hard she started to get hiccups, and Remus finally stopped his assault. The both sat there, as Mercy tried to get herself to stop hiccupping.

Mercy stood up and brushed off her clothes. "I kind of feel like going for a walk. Do you wanna come?" She said, offering her hand.

He appeared to think for a second, and took it. Mercy pulled him up. "Yeah alright."

Mercy smiled and they walked out of the common room.

**Author's Note**

**I am sorry, this chapter was very short. *bows head***

**Jeez, I seem to be apologizing waaaaay too much. Sorry. Bleck.**

**Ugh. Anyway, shoot me a review if you can find the time, please. I feel like I'm begging here. I'm sorry. **

**LORD HAVE MERCY! *ducks in corner and tries to stop apologizing***


	5. Chapter 5- That's a Wall?

_**Author's Note**_

_**Disclaimer**__**\- **_Neither the Magical Mystical Universe of Harry Potter nor the people that belong to the world belong to me.

_**On with the Story **_

_**Chapter 5- That's a Wall!?**_

Madam Pince kicked Oakley and Charlie out at 8. Literally, she magicked the books to smack them until they left the premises. They landed in the hallway outside the library in a heap. Oakley groaned as she rubbed her arm, checking the damage. It was throbbing.

Charlie stood up and put his bag on his shoulder and then offered her his hand. Oakley couldn't suppress a flinch at the sudden pain that flashed through her arm. Unfortunately it looked like Charlie noticed.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Oakley said cheerily. If Charlie knew how bad it was, he would probably try to march her right to the hospital wing. He looked dubious. _'Oh, Goddamit.' _She thought.

"Why do you even bother lying to me?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, let's go to the common room."

Charlie squared his shoulders up. "You aren't telling me something. Spill."

"I told you I'm fine." More than anything else, she felt annoyed.

"You are obviously not fine!"

"Why can't you trust my judgment! I know my limits!" She stopped walking and put her hands on her hips.

Charlie turned to face her. "Well, except when we were in Care of Magical Creatures and your arm caught on fire and you were like 'oh put me out, I'll be fine!' And you had 2nd degree burns on your fucking arm! Kettleburn literally dragged you out of class to take you to the hospital wing!"

"You don't need to worry about me; I can take care of myself!"

"Well, YOU AREN'T RIGHT NOW!"

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK-"

"Well, well, well… What do we have we have here?" Oakley whipped around and frowned. Lucius Malfoy, a long blonde haired Slytherin prefect stood in the corridor smirking down at them like they were some sort of snack.

"May I inquire as to what you two are doing out so late?"

"Well you may, but I reserve the right to keep my business to myself" said Charlie coldly.

"You might lose some points for unnecessary cheek, if you aren't careful boy. Do you know who you're dealing with?" Lucius said chillingly.

"Some prissy, sleek, blonde kid has nothing better to do than stalk around the hallways and dock points from unsuspecting students?" The bite in Charlie's voice bothered her.

"That will be ten points from Gryffindor." Lucius' mouth curved up in a cruel smile. "Oakley, what would your sweet Grandmama say, hmmm? Hanging around this riff-raff." His voice was now falsely sweet and he turned to Oakley, his smile growing.

But Oakley stayed silent. She averted his gaze and dropped her face to the floor while her cheeks started to flush with color. '_If I say anything he'll tell my parents' _

Charlie looked at her. "That was low Malfoy. You leave her alone or I'll-"

"Charlie stop. Let's go, he's not worth it." Oakley grabbed his arm and started to pull him down the hallway.

"You better watch your back boy." Lucius stalked down the hallway. Charlie muttered some curses under his breath.

Oakley and Charlie walked in silence for a few minutes and started up the staircases. When they reached the 4th floor, Charlie stopped Oakley.

"I really do think you should go get your arm checked on." Charlie locked his eyes with Oakley.

She sighed and said, "You aren't going to drop this, are you?" Charlie shook his head. She stared at him for the next couple of seconds.

"Alright, I don't want to go back to the Hospital Wing because Madam Pomfrey said she wants to keep me overnight for observation."

"What do you think you are proving? This doesn't make you brave, it makes you stupid."

Oakley tsked. "Oh whatever. I'll see you tomorrow _Mum_." She turned around and walked toward the hospital wing.

888

Remus and Mercy were walking down the hallway toward the trophy room, a room that Remus was quite familiar with due to his numerous detentions with his fellow Marauders. Mercy was doing most of the talking, but Remus preferred it that way.

They turned a corner, which led to a dead end. "Where are we going?" Remus was following Mercy.

Mercy smiled, "Only my favorite spot in the whole castle… but it's kind of a secret so…" she grabbed his hand and she started running toward a tapestry in front of a wall.

"Mercy!? That's a Wall! What are we-" Remus said.

"Trust me!" Mercy picked up her pace and then ran straight at the tapestry, laughing. Remus closed his eyes and braced himself for an impact… that didn't come? Remus opened his eyes and was greeted by a huge fountain surrounded by trees and shrubs and hundreds of floating baskets of flowers and vines.

Remus couldn't believe he and his friends hadn't found this place. The room was small but full of vegetation. He turned to Mercy who was looking at him grinning broadly. He smiled back and asked, "How did you find this place? It seems to be a little of the beaten path."

Mercy smiled and ran her hand through her hair. "It was kind of an accident. Me and Oakley were running away from that stupid cat, Mrs. Norris 1st year. I wasn't looking where I was going and didn't see the wall until I was about 2 feet in front of it and before I could stop I ran right through it."

Remus stared at Mercy. She walked over to the fountain and pulled out some coins. She turned her back to the fountain, closed her eyes, and threw them over her head. They pattered and plopped on the water and Mercy opened her eyes and caught Remus staring.

"What? Is there something on my face? Or, as Oakley would say, am I simply so beautiful that you have no words left?"

Remus blushed. _'Is she, FLIRTING!?'_ "Nothing, it's nothing." She just laughed and began talking about the fuchsias that were dangling from one of the baskets. He hit his head against the tree.

888

Mercy and Remus talked animatedly about Quidditch on their way back to the common room. Mercy didn't really have allegiance to an international Quidditch team but really showed her house pride at matches, particularly Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. The subject of Quidditch carried them all the way back to the common room.

Remus and Mercy sat on a couch perpendicular to the fire, staring and watching the flames. Mercy felt content sitting on the couch, but she felt really tired. _'Probably as good a time as any to hit the sack.'_ She stood up, yawned, and stretched.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Night Remus."

"Night." Remus gave a smile, which Mercy returned. She started toward girl's dormitory.

Mercy got about halfway up the stairs, but stopped abruptly, walked back down to the foot of the stairs. "Thanks for coming with me,"

He smiled. "No problem."

Mercy started up the stairs again.

"Mercy!"

"Yeah?" Mercy turned around. Remus stood up and looked at her.

"Errrrr… Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow in Herbology. Night!" He blanched as he practically yelled this and half ran out the portrait hole leaving her bewildered, standing mouth agape on the stairs. She ran up the stairs, blushing furiously


	6. Chapter 6- Swirling Vortex

**Author's Note**

**Disclaimer- **I don't own Harry Potter, world or characters. Yada yada yada…

**Chapter 6- **Swirling Vortex of Burning Cards

Charlie walked up the staircase towards the boy's 4th Year dorm, where he was greeted by the sight of James and Sirius sitting in the middle of the floor making a huge card tower made of Exploding Snap cards that they were levitating with their wands and Peter reading a book.

"Hey guys." Unfortunately he appeared to have startled Sirius, who yelped and dropped a card which promptly exploded knocking down the whole tower. As they tumbled downward, a stray card landed on James whose trousers instantly ignited.

James let out a shout of surprise, and began batting at the flame with his hands, Peter squealed, "STOP DROP AND ROLL!"

Charlie stood frozen in surprise as James rolled around the floor. "Hold on Mate!" Sirius yelled, and proceeded to run to the bathroom.

After a few seconds, James quenched the flame with his wand as Sirius ran back into the room holding a bucket of water. Seeing James no longer on fire, he let out a sigh of exasperation. But Charlie saw a mischievous smirk creep over Sirius's face, and knew what would happen. He covered his eyes with his hand as a wave of water doused him and James. The sudden chill seemed to suck the air out of his lungs.

"AUGH! SIRIUS YOU ARSE! THAT WATER IS BLOODY COLD!" James shouted, standing up abruptly now thoroughly soaked with water.

"Don't be a nancy, I was jus—Umph!" James tossed the empty bucket at Sirius, hitting him in the stomach and effectively cutting off his response.

Charlie fought to contain himself, but seeing the surly expression on James' face he burst out laughing. Pretty soon all the other boys joined in, even the now sopping wet James.

"I call first shower!" Charlie called, running over to his bed, grabbed a towel and sprinted to the bathroom before the other boys could respond.

"Nooo! YOU-" James shouted as Charlie closed the door. Charlie grinned as James cursed loudly on the other side. He turned the shower on and quickly stripped of his wet robes and clambered into the warm water.

888

Remus opened the door of the dormitory and was confused by what he saw. There was a singed pile of cards on the floor and a soaked James sprawled beside them. Sirius was draped over Peter's trunk as Peter nonchalantly read a book.

"What's going on here?" He asked, but thought _'I don't really know why I bother being surprised at this point…'_

"Oh you know, the usual. James and Sirius wanted to build a card tower..." said Peter, not looking up.

"You know what? I don't even care anymore." Remus mumbled, dumping his bag on his bed.

"Moony! Where have you been? The library? You missed out on a lot of fun, James turned some Slytherins hair red and gold, and of course he landed me and him into detention again." Sirius said cheerily.

James laughed and Remus rolled his eyes, but smiled. _'at least they aren't just getting away with it this time.'_

"But really, where have you been?" James sat up and looked at him from the floor.

'_Should I actually tell them.' _He thought, but quickly dismissed this prospect. _'Nope. Bad Idea' _"I was… around." Remus sat on his bed,

"Around, huh? So with a girl then?" James was grinning from ear to ear.

"Remus gots a girlfriend, Remus gots a girlfriend. They're gonna get married and have ten fuzzy children… Remus gots-"

"Shut up, Pete!" Remus was now deeply flushed. "Nosy bastards…" he muttered. Sirius got off Peter's trunk and strutted across the room and laid down next to Remus on the bed.

"So… who's the girl?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Remus felt his face go red. "It's… not really any of your business… get off my bed!" Remus tried to shove him off but Sirius didn't budge. James hopped on belly first on Remus's other side.

"Now when Sirius asked who the girl was, it was rhetorical; We know exactly who it is." James said with his glasses knocked askew from his jump.

Remus didn't say anything, but turned redder, if that was possible. Charlie walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist. He walked over to his bed to put on his clothes.

Peter began singing badly and horribly off key, "Remus and Mercy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Remus and Mercy sitting in a tree-"

"Stop it." Remus was glowering. But Pete continued singing.

Sirius put a white sheet over his head and said in a girly voice, "Oh Remus, of course I'll go out with you. In fact let's get married and have 10 children and we'll live in the most beautiful cardboard box ever!"

"What the hell is going on?" Charlie asked. Remus glanced over at him, Charlie had an indignant look on his face. _'Jeez, Mercy's his best friend.' _

"Well you see, our buddy Remus…" Sirius began

"SHUT UP, YOU BLOODY WANKERS!" Remus roared. He threw his pillow at Peter, who ducked.

James and Sirius smiled mischievously. James seemed almost too happy to break the brief silence.

"You see, he's got it bad."

Remus muttered a stream of curses, as he simmered in his bed.


	7. Chapter 7- Quidditch Try-Outs (of DOOM!)

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Alright, Disclaimer- **_As flattered as I would be if someone were to think that I could possibly be the mastermind behind Harry Potter, his world, and all his chums I have to say I do not own any of it.

_**On with the Story **_____

**Chapter 7- Quidditch Try-Outs (Of DOOM!)**

Remus watched from the stands as the Gryffindor Captain Trina Macintosh blew her whistle and attempted to wrangle the attention of the Quidditch team hopefuls. She sorted the nearly fifty people who had showed up into smaller groups of 10. The first group had been comprised of the younger students and there were a few accidents involving the first years spiraling to the ground. Oakley and Mercy were in the 3rd group.

Remus watched in interest. They spiraled and dived and swooped around with ease. _'That'll get Trina's attention.' _He thought. They flew to the front of the pack, and balanced on top of the brooms on their feet. That sight filled Remus with worry.

He winced as they leapt off their brooms grabbing the other's broom with one hand and sloth-grip rolled into a sitting position. "Risky, but impressive." Remus said over to Sirius, who looked impressed.

"I didn't know they could fly like that… bloody amazing." Remus peered down at James, who was standing next to Justin Sekata, the other member of the team from the year before. James was grinning, and said something to Justin who nodded.

When everyone landed after the run, Trina called out names of people he had passed the flight test. More than half of the students left grumbling, joining the crowd in the stands. Trina had separated the remaining students into four groups, one for each position. In the end, there were 4 people trying out for keeper, 3 for beater, 6 for chasers and a whopping 8 seeker hopefuls.

Trina lined up the chasers and keepers for tryouts first. Trina and James took 3 shots each on each Keeper, and all the chaser hopefuls took two each. The first girl guarding the hoops was a good flyer but only saved 7 shots, but none of them were Trina's or James's. The second did a little better, saving one of Trina's shots and 9 shots from the chaser hopefuls but none of James's.

Oakley flew up to the hoops third. Remus stared in interest as she shut out all of Trina's shots. "She's good!" Remus said.

Sirius nodded, "Better than the other two. But let's see how James fares." Oakley saved his first two shots, one after the other. She lunged at his third one, but glanced off her fingertips with an odd spin on it. The other chasers didn't score any on her except a boy with short black hair, who pelted it at her so hard that in knocked her arm backward through the ring. The last keeper saved 2 of Trina's shots and one of James's. He even managed to save 9 of the 12 shots from the Chaser hopefuls.

"She has a shot at it, yes?" Remus asked. "She had the best run overall."

Sirius shrugged. "Probably, but that last kid had a fairly good run too."

The Beater hopefuls all walked onto the field, Trina had magicked a target that they would all get to aim at. Impressively, a small weedy looking boy showed up the other girl and boy who were both trying out. He hit the target each time.

Then the seekers took to the field, they were catching golf balls that were hurling around the pitch. Every time one of them caught one, it would automatically change into their assigned color and they could drop it. Mercy darted around the pitch, and it seemed she was doing well for herself.

The three who had snatched the most golf balls were Mercy, a slim girl with long brown hair, and a heavier set boy with messy blond hair. They weaved around each other looking for the snitch. Remus watched Mercy in interest. She was flying around slower than the other two, scanning slowly.

Suddenly she sped off toward one of golden hoops, and Taylor and Trey both followed her. Remus saw the snitch go over his head, and the three seekers swooped over him.

Mercy leapt off her broom over the stands, snatching the snitch out of the air. Remus watched as she failed to regain a grip on her broom and she plummeted about 7 feet into the stands, rolling of a bench and hitting the wooden floor on her side. Remus jumped off his bench and started to run toward where Mercy had fallen, hopping over benches and leaving a semi-shocked Sirius behind.

"Mercy!" He called, and Oakley flew up and got to her first

"Merce! That was wicked! You should have seen Macintosh's face…?" She was ecstatic but also looked concerned. Remus was relieved to see her smile.

"I just couldn't get a good grip on the bloody broom." She said, sounded disappointed more than anything else.

He skidded to a stop next to her. "You alright?" He said, offering a hand to pull her to her feet.

"I'm fine. I might have wounded my pride though." She smiled at him, which looked a little more like a grimace, but Remus was relieved anyway. The fact that she was making jokes was a good sign.

Mercy mounted her broom again and addressing Remus said, "I'll see you back in the common room. I want to go give the snitch back to Trina." Oakley waved and flew off, followed soon by Mercy.

Remus watched her land on the ground and walk up to Trina. When the relief that Mercy seemed okay faded, Remus wondered how badly she had been hurt. As much as she tried to play it off, she had still fallen 7 feet on top of some hard wooden benches. He saw her wince a little when he had helped her up. _'I'll just check on her later.' _He thought, sighing.


	8. Chapter 8- Ouch

**Authors Note**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter

_**On with the Story **___

Chapter 8- Ouch

Oakley and Mercy trudged up the Grand Staircase on their way back up to the common room. _'We are moving at a snail's pace'_ She thought, glancing at Mercy. She looked pale and shaky.

"Merce, are you feeling alright?" Mercy shook her head slowly. "Should we go to the Hospital Wing? Or do you just want to go to bed?"

Mercy didn't even seem to have enough energy to answer. Halfway up the flight, Mercy stumbled and sank into a trick step. She struggled for a little while but only managed to get herself more stuck and causing her to hit her side on the step. She yelped in pain and Oakley pulled her out of the step, frowning in concern.

"Merce? What's going on? "

Oakley looked at Mercy's eyes and saw them filling with moisture. Mercy gritted her teeth. "My head feels so fuzzy." She muttered.

They continued up the steps. By the time they reached the top of the flight, beads of sweat were forming on Mercy's forehead and she sank to the floor unconscious. Oakley felt her forehead, Mercy was burning up. _'Shit! Hospital Wing it is.'_

"Merce! Mercy!" She shook Mercy, but she didn't stir. _'I can't carry her. What am I supposed to do, leave her?' _

Oakley heard laughter from below her. James and Sirius looked up. "Oi, Oakley! Nice job at try-outs; James was just saying-" Sirius stopped talking as he caught sight of Mercy's still form.

"Hey! I need your help" She called. James and Sirius ran up the steps, both notably skipping the trick step. "I think she really hurt herself when she fell off her broom at tryouts. But I can't lift her alone to take her to the hospital wing."

Sirius and James looked at each other for a second.

"I'll carry her," Said James. He scooped her up in his arms with very little effort. Sirius said he was going to go up to the common room and left quickly, jumping up the stairs 2 at a time.

Oakley and James walked together, down the corridor toward the hospital wing. "You know, Trina was really impressed by you guys. I think you both are shoe-ins for the team."

Oakley sighed. "That's nice to hear." _'I'd probably fell happier about that if Mercy was conscious though.'_

They walked into the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey bustled over to them.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Milova? What happened?"

She led James to an empty bed and had him put Mercy down on it. She started to do a magical examination.

"We had Quidditch tryouts today and she fell into the stands." Oakley said as she walked over to the bed.

"What's the damage?" James asked.

Madam Pomfrey tsked. "Well it appears to be a bruised rib cage, a pulled muscle in her back, and a concussion. She needs quiet."

Oakley nodded, and turned to walk out of the room, hoping that Mercy would be better in the morning.

James put his hand on her arm. "She'll pull through." He said simply. Oakley looked at the floor. "I hope you are right."

888

Remus was sitting with Charlie both working on an assignment they had due tomorrow. "Hey Moony! James just took Mercy to the Hospital Wing-" both Remus and Charlie looked up from their homework startled.

Both Remus and Charlie jumped up. "What happened?" Charlie asked. "How bad is it?" asked Remus. They looked at each other and then at Sirius.

"Well I don't know how bad it is because I didn't go to the hospital wing with them."

Remus was now worried. "Should we go down and check on her?"

"Naa… James and Oakley will be up soon; we can just ask them then." Sirius said.

"What happened?" Charlie asked again.

"She fell off her broom at try-outs." Remus said, surprised as Charlie looked alarmed. "Did she not say anything to you?" He asked.

"I haven't seen Oaks or Mercy all day."

Remus sat back down at the table. He picked up his book, but found couldn't focus and found himself reading the same thing multiple times. Finally, Oakley and James walked in. Oakley walked up to the table and sat down on it, James went up to the boy's dorm, followed by Sirius. Oakley looked worried, _'I'll just talk to her then,'_

"How is she?" Charlie asked with his teeth gritted. "Concussion, fever, bruised ribs, and some pulled muscles. I wasn't allowed to stay."

Charlie sighed and put his stuff into his bag. "We'll just have to stop by tomorrow morning."

"You did well at try-outs" Remus said. Oakley nodded,

"Thank-you."

"How did she fall?" Charlie asked. Oakley sighed.

"She jumped to grab at the snitch and—"

"Wait, she JUMPED!? Like off the broomstick!?" Charlie was in disbelief.

"It was a great catch." She said quietly. Remus flinched at Charlie's expression. He was livid.

"A great catch my ass! You guys are going to pull shit like this and then expect me to be sympathetic?"

Remus looked between the two of them. He felt caught up in a hurricane.

"It's a game Charlie! People can get hurt!" She spat.

"Yeah, it's just a fucking game. It is not even close to worth all this trouble." Charlie stormed off to his dorm for the night. Oakley stared angrily at the ceiling. After a few moments she sighed.

"Am I not taking this seriously enough?" She asked, in a resigned tone.

"She will pull through in a couple days." Remus put his arms on the table and rested his head on them.

"I hope so…But Charlie is bloody bang out of order.." Oakley grumbled.


	9. Chapter 9- Wizards Chess

_**Author's Note**_

_**Disclaimer- **_I am not JK Rowling so I therefore do not own any of the Rights to Harry Potter. Now if I did and I possessed even a fraction of the talent for writing she does, I would probably not be writing fanfiction. So, there you go.__

_**On with the Story **_____

**Chapter 9- Wizards Chess**

Mercy was sleeping when Charlie and Oakley visited her the next day after classes. They left all of Mercy's assignments on her bedside table with a note.

**Hey Merce! We stopped by before dinner but you were too rude to be conscious.**

_We got your assignments for you but all the teachers said don't worry about it too much. We'll help you out. _

**We'll be in tomorrow evening, just to see how you're doing. In the meantime, Charlie and I will be spending most of the morning in the library. I think Charlie wants to study and get homework done or something else dumb like that. But I think I'll start looking up some of the spells we talked about.**

_So in other words, I'll work and she'll cause trouble. There's also a deck of real cards (not the exploding variety) on the table too, so you can play Solitaire or something to pass the time until we get there… you could work on your assignments. _

**Yeah, Right.**

_Anyway, Get better Mercy._

_Charlie_** and Oakley **

888

Mercy woke up around 10 o'clock Saturday morning lying in a bed that she realized with a start wasn't hers. She gazed around and noted that everything seemed be white, she figured she probably was in the Hospital Wing, and noted that it appeared someone was sitting next to the bed she was in, reading a book. She couldn't really tell who it was because her eyes were still adjusting to the light.

She rubbed them and heard a voice call out to her. "Oh, Miss Baines! You're finally awake"

'_I swear, that woman was a ninja in another life' _She thought as Madam Pomfrey bustled up to her bed. She looked at the person who was sitting next to her bed, and found it was Remus Lupin. He looked up from his book and said, "Morning". She sat up painfully, and was handed a potion she recognized as a pepper-up potion.

"Drink this, Dear. All in one go, that's a girl." Mercy gave the potion three gulps, cringing a little at the taste.

"Alright, you will be staying here the night again and I think you will have recovered enough to leave tomorrow morning." Mercy nodded vaguely and sank back into her pillows. Madam Pomfrey smiled and walked to her office.

Mercy turned to Remus. "How long you been there?"

Remus put a book mark in his book and shut it. "Erm, I probably got here an hour ago. I thought you might want some company."

Mercy looked at the table next to her bed. There were a small stack of parchment, her textbooks, a deck of cards, and a note. She grabbed the note and read it, smiling a little and shaking her head. "Oakley and Charlie will probably be here this evening."

Remus pulled out a chessboard and two sets of wizard pieces. "I brought this in case you wanted to play." Mercy groaned. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" He said as he raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, I'm fine, you're just about to discover how bloody awful I am at chess. Oakley creams me every single bloody time."

Remus laughed. "Well maybe you're better than you think."

She wasn't. She was exactly as she said. Bloody Freaking Awful. They played three games laughing and talking. The third game, Remus beat her in the last game in 5 moves.

Mercy flipped the chessboard over, flinging their pieces everywhere then crossed her arms. Remus was shocked for a second, but seeing the surly expression on her face started to laugh. "Stop laughing at me…" She muttered, but his laughter made it impossible for her to stop the corners of her mouth from curling up into a smile.

Remus summoned the chess pieces and board and put them into his bag. He stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Well, I better go down to lunch." He said, but he sounded reluctant.

"Thanks for stopping by." She said. '_Don't leave me here!' _She thought sadly… _'Mind, stop being do melodramatic.'_

"Hey, Mercy. I have something I've been meaning to ask you." Remus looked down at the floor.

"Go for it." Mercy tried to make eye contact but Remus seemed to be avoiding it at all costs.

"Well, there's supposed to be a trip to Hogsmeade next weekend and I was wondering if you, errrrr, had any plans to go with anyone." He shifted his weight and his eyes traveled up and met hers.

Mercy's eyes widened and a faint blush rose to her cheeks. But she smiled. "Not at the moment."

"Well, would you mind, I mean, want to err… go together?" There was a quick pause in which Remus looked down and Mercy turned a little deeper red.

"Uh, yeah." She said with a small grin curling her lips. _'Is this actually happening?'_

"Really!" He looked up again and she nodded. "Great! I'll stop by tomorrow morning Mercy. See ya!" He said ecstatically and practically hopped out of the hospital wing. Mercy stared at his retreating back a little baffled but couldn't help but smile. She pinched her arm. '_Oh my gosh! This is real! Wait till I tell Oakley'_

888

Oakley stopped by the Hospital Wing after lunch. _'There is no way I am spending the rest of the afternoon in the library.' _

"Hey, you lazy bum! I thought you were going to stop by later," said Mercy putting aside her bowl of soup.

"One can only spend so much time in the library. At least you had interesting company. Charlie insisted on studying" Oakley grinned flopping on the chair next to Mercy's bed.

"How'd you know that?" Mercy stopped making eye contact but Oakley didn't miss the subtle upturn of Mercy's lips.

"Pbft, Remus practically skipped into lunch today. Dude, I'm so bored. Play cards with me."

Mercy rolled her eyes. "Fine." She dealt out the cards for their odd 2-man adaptation of Euchre.

"We played chess all morning and I was horrible. It was kind of embarrassing, he's actually pretty good. But the last game we played he beat me in 5 moves." She said

Oakley laughed, "Anyone could beat you."

Mercy huffed, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Oakley snickered, "Sorry Darling, but it's true."

"Whatever. Anyway! he was walking out the door to go to lunch and he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him in 2 weeks."

Oakley was taken aback. "Really? Well, it took him long enough." '_Hm. I thought Merce was gonna have to make the first move. Remus always seems so shy.'_

"I'm so excited. I can hardly wait." Mercy said enthusiastically.

Mercy and Oakley kept playing Euchre, and Charlie entered the wing. "It was too quiet in the library." He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Oakley.

Oakley grinned and said with a wink, "I told you not to miss me too much. And you said it'd be a relief to have some peace and quiet."

"Well, it was nice for a little while. But then these stupid distracting thoughts became so freaking loud in my mind I couldn't focus." He said.

"Oh, I'm sure that's all it was" Oakley said sarcastically, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Well if you hadn't been trying to distract me the whole time I was trying to work, I would've been sadder to see you go." He countered.

Oakley looked off in the distance and said in a high voice, "Whatever you say, Darling"

Charlie looked as though he was going to respond but Mercy cleared her throat with a loud "Ahem". Oakley and Charlie stopped talking and both looked at their amused friend.

"Well, it's nice to see you too." Mercy said sarcastically.

Charlie shot her a sheepish look, and it seemed like he had just realized he had been ignoring her. "Sorry Merce. So, umm… How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just bored." She said as she shifted in her bed.

"What have you been up to?" Charlie asked. "Doing homework, yeah?" He said, in a casual sarcastic tone. Oakley snorted.

Mercy wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Like I would actually be doing my homework. I played chess with Remus this morning. And Oakley came after lunch and we've just been playing cards."

"Lupin was here?" Charlie asked, trying to sound innocent but it was ill-disguised.

"Yeah… Hey… What's got your wand in a knot?" Oakley saw Mercy's smile slip when she saw Charlie clench his fists and look down at his lap.

"Nothing." He said, but Oakley wasn't buying it.

"Sure." Mercy said, but Oakley could tell she wasn't totally dismissing the topic either.

Charlie looked as though he was in the mood to strangle something, and he changed the subject. "Why did you jump off your broom? That was so stupid!"

Mercy's smile disappeared. "Whoa, hold up. Charlie. I was just-"

"You had to catch that snitch. I know. Well are you happy? You made that bloody team but was it worth it?"

Oakley listened as the air around the conversation got more and more tense. "I did make the team? Why didn't you tell me Oaks?" Mercy asked, dragging Oakley into the conversation.

Oakley's eyes shifted between Mercy and Charlie. "It must have slipped my mind." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Mercy's mouth curved up in elation. "YES! When do practices start? Am I going to miss any?" Oakley hesitated, but before she spoke, Charlie stood up. "Did you hear me? Was it worth it?"

Mercy stared at him and sat up as far as she could. "Well, what do you mean? I made the team; that was the whole point of this thing."

"You jumped off a broom. Why would you do something so stupid?" His face started to turn a delicate shade of pink as he got more angry.

Mercy looked at him in confusion. "Charlie, What the hell are you on about?" Oakley had a small epiphany. '_Oh my gosh, this isn't about Quidditch! This is about Lupin! Charlie's Jealous'_

"You JUMPED. OFF. A BROOM." He said, exaggerating each syllable.

"Seekers are just supposed to do whatever they can to catch the snitch. That is just how Quidditch works!" She stuck out her chin defiantly. Oakley groaned quietly.

Charlie rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Well you know what? Some way or another, last year's seeker managed not to almost get herself killed during a match."

"Last year's seeker was a fucking pansy! She didn't catch the snitch once! Not even once!" She said loudly; Oakley knew that Madam Pomfrey would come over her if things didn't calm down considerably getting riled up.

"Guys," She said timidly, but she was ignored.

"You know, one of these days you are going to really hurt yourself, maybe even permanently. And when that day comes I will be able to say I told you so. But I won't want to." Charlie said. And he stormed out. Mercy and Oakley watched his retreating back.

"What is his problem!? What did I do?" She said, her whole face flushed bright red. "If he so bent against me playing Quidditch he should have said something before." Mercy grumbled as she buried her face in her hands and leaned back a little painfully onto her pillows. '_And Mercy hasn't figured it out yet!' She thought_

Oakley carefully chose her words. "Okay… so. It wasn't anything you did… but… it had everything to do with you…"

Mercy removed her hands from her face and shot her an exasperated look. "Gee thank you for clearing that up."

"Mercy, isn't it obvious!? He's jealous!" Oakley rolled her eyes, leave it to Mercy to be Captain Oblivious.

Mercy's jaw dropped. "Jealous of what? He obviously doesn't care for Quidditch."

Oakley tilted her head to the side. "Of Remus. Mercy. HE LIKES YOU."

Mercy stared at her, her face blank.

"Well shit." She said. "But wait, this had nothing to do with the Quidditch thing?" She asked.

"Well not really… I just think his patience has worn thin. I think it's also because he's always kind of been over protective." Mercy looked befuddled. So Oakley hastily thought of an example.

"You remember that one time when someone's potion blew up in class because Sirius threw a wet-start firework in it? One of the shards hit you in the face and you had that huge scratch down your cheek. Charlie punched Sirius in the face right in front of ole Sluggy." Oakley watched as Mercy struggled to recall the incident.

"I think… yeah I do. But why, didn't he just say something?" Mercy asked. Oakley bopped her on the arm forgetting how sore Mercy was. After Mercy's yelp subsided, Oakley answered.

"He thought he'd look like an idiot, dumbass." She shook her head in annoyance.

Mercy looked sad. "Well, I'm not going to just tell Remus I've changed my mind. He's… You know how long I've liked him. I always hoped he… well he would feel… I mean I hoped he would make the first move. Man, I just can't do that. I hope Charlie understands that…" Mercy pulled one of her pillows over her face.

"That's likely" Oakley said sarcastically. Mercy smacked her with the pillow.


	10. Chapter 10-Blonde Bitches and Clumsiness

_**Author's Note**_

_**Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or his world or any of the people who live there. **_

_**On with the story **_

Chapter 10- Blonde Bitches and Clumsiness

Mercy was sitting at her typical study spot in the library Sunday afternoon, poring over her charms homework and getting increasingly frustrated. It wasn't that she disliked Charms; in fact she really enjoyed Professor Flitwick's lessons. She just wasn't very good at it.

She sighed and twiddled her wand between her fingers. She knew why the spell was useful, that was pretty obvious. The writing was never difficult, and the theory seldom hard to grasp, but why couldn't she do the stupid spell!? For heaven's sake, this was a 3rd year spell.

She was pointing her wand at a broken figurine of a ship she had gotten from her grandmother, but the stupid thing wouldn't fix.

"Reparo!" She pointed her wand at the figurine, and the pieces moved together. Well Finally! She put it on the corner of the table right next to her charms book and removed her reading glasses. She rubbed her eyes tiredly.

Nadine Montgomery, a tall thin Slytherin 4th year purposefully walked into Mercy knocked the ship onto the floor with one of her flailing arms and it broke into pieces once again.

Mercy flinched at the sound of her newly repaired figurine shattering and glared over at Nadine. "Are you freaking kidding me!?" She said, not believing for a minute it had been an accident.

"Oh sooooooo sorry, Mercy. I didn't see you there..." She said in her high smooth voice. It put a bad taste in Mercy's mouth. In mock concern Nadine asked "How are you doing? I heard you fell off your broom at tryouts."

"Well your tone sounds less than sincere." Mercy said. She moodily stared at the ground.

Nadine's mouth curled into a cruel smile. "Well I also heard you made the team...that's odd."

"What of it?" Mercy snapped.

"What, didn't Gryffindor have anyone better than some oaf who falls off her broom when faced with a light breeze?"

Mercy rolled her eyes. "First off, I jumped off and I caught the damn snitch. So get your facts straight." Nadine and Mercy had never gotten along, ever since their encounter on the train when Nadine tripped her. She had pretended to apologize at the time, but Mercy suspected the reason she had been so insincere had something to do with the fact Mercy was a muggleborn.

"Like there's really any difference." Nadine said, flipping her blonde hair.

"Oh, buzz off. Don't you have anything better to do?" Mercy glared at the figurine she had spent the past hour trying to repair.

Nadine laughed obnoxiously. "Of course I do. What, do you think I actually want to spend time with you?"

Mercy raised her eyebrows and asked in a falsely pleasant voice, "Why are you still here then?"

"I had some time to burn. But, good luck in your first game of the season. I'll make sure there's someone running below your broom with a mattress." She then let out a soft laugh and as she left, she knocked all of Mercy's papers and books onto the floor. She walked away still chuckling. Mercy pick up her wand but put it down again, resisting the urge to hex her so she didn't get kicked out of the library. She sighed and took in the sight of her papers and books scattered on the floor.

Mercy painfully got out of her chair and bent down to start picking up everything. Madam Pomfrey told her she would be stiff for a day or two and she was to take it easy. Cursing under her breath about difficult spells and dumb blond Slytherins, she sorted her Muggle-Studies, Herbology, and Charms homework from when she missed class Friday into piles.

"Hey there" a voice said, interrupting her stream of profanities. Mercy jumped and bumped her head on the bottom of the table.

"Ouch!" She yelped rubbed the top of her head and looked up. Remus was looking down at her trying to suppress a chuckle. "I swear, you pick the most inopportune moments to sneak up on me." She said.

"Sorry, it's not like I do it on purpose. Why is your stuff everywhere?" He bent over and started to help her pick up her stuff. "Did you trip?" He grinned over at her.

"No I didn't trip… That slag Nadine Montgomery came over here and just started knocking my stuff everywhere." She gathered up the last of the papers and put them on the table. Taking the books from Remus, she put them next to the papers and then stared mournfully at the broken ship on the floor.

"What was this?" Remus was fingering the pieces of the figurine.

"It was from my grandmother. She sent it to me." She said.

"How did you break it?" He asked.

"I just told you. Montgomery-"

"I meant the first time." He interrupted with a grin.

Mercy huffed, blowing some hair out of her face. "I tripped." Remus laughed and Mercy shook her head in amusement. "I was got it with the post a couple weeks ago. I had managed to make it up to my room, but I stepped on one of Oakley's shoes and fell and it kind of flew across the room and shattered against the window." Apparently Remus found this deeply amusing, but looked as though he was trying to conceal it. Mercy furrowed her brow, "Laugh it up." She said as he fought to keep a straight face. "Anyway, the only reason I brought it here is because I wanted to practice the Mending Charm on it. I had been trying to repair it probably for an hour or so until I finally got it, then that prat had to knock all my stuff off the table." She pointed her wand at the figurine. "Reparo."

But nothing happened. Mercy face palmed.

Remus shot her pitying look. "I think the theory behind the spell is more like putting a puzzle together. If you focus on making the pieces fit together maybe it would work better." Remus said. Mercy looked at him for a few seconds.

"Alright, I'll try it." She raised her wand again, but this time trying to focus on the theory of the spell."Reparo." The pieces jumped together again. "YES" Mercy said triumphantly.

"See, I knew you could do it." Remus picked up the figurine and put it next to her books. He got up and offered a hand to Mercy. Taking it, she got up gingerly, aware of the pain in her ribs and back.

"Thanks, Remus. You know… if I ever need help in Charms, I might just track you down."

"Hey, it's no big deal. If you need anything just ask. I'll see you at dinner maybe?" He looked down and realizing he still had her hand, blushed a little, and let go.

"Yup, see you later Remus." Mercy smiled and turned to start putting her stuff in her bag.

Remus walked away, and Mercy watched him go out of the corner of her eye, smiling to herself.

**Hey bums... if you aren't too busty, please shoot me a review!**


	11. Chapter 11- You Sir, Have Taken My Seat

_**Author's Note**_

_**Disclaimer- **_This is Fanfiction, not real legitimate writing from the hand of JK Rowling.

_**On With the Story **___

**Chapter 11- You Sir, Have Taken My Seat**

Mercy ran into the double potions period later than she wanted to. She had slept in, and she was beating herself up for. Not only did she miss breakfast but she practically sprinted down the stairs almost falling three times.

She tried to look less frenzied as she walked into the classroom, patting here hair down. She scanned over the class trying to look for Oakley. She spotted her in the second row but the seat next to her was occupied by Charlie. Charlie met Mercy's eyes and crossed his arms. There was no way he was moving. She tsked and started to look for another seat.

She spun slowing in a circle, looking desperately for a desk next to someone friendly. Seeing an open one next to Nadine Montgomery, she felt her throat tighten. Please no. Someone grabbed her arm gently.

"Good morning" Remus smiled at her and Mercy gave a him halfhearted one in return, still looking for an empty desk.

"Do you want sit next to me today? Pete and James are sitting together today and Sirius is sitting next to Marlene." Mercy looked at Sirius who was indeed chatting it up with the girl that Charlie usually sat next to. Well at least that explained why Charlie had taken her seat.

"YES! Thank God!" She said maybe a little too enthusiastically because Remus looked a little taken aback. So she felt it necessary to explain. "Well I think Charlie usually sits next to Marlene, and since Sirius is there, Charlie took my seat next to Oakley so I was looking for a free one, and the first one I saw was next to Montgomery and I really didn't want to sit next to her because she…" She realized she was rambling and bit her lip. Remus laughed.

"Come on, I'm sitting in the back." He led her to his table which was across the aisle from James and Peter.

"Oi Mercy! How are you doing?" James looked over at her. Mercy grinned back.

"I'm fine." She sat down and pulled out her potions book, a Muggle notebook of lined paper and a pencil.

James looked at it curiously and very interestedly. "Why are you using that?" he asked.

Mercy smiled. "I never could write in a straight line, even when I try. I guess I just like lined paper because it makes my notes look neater." _**(AN: Siriusly, doesn't anyone else think that muggleborns would sneak in this stuff. To be honest there's a reason that we Muggles stopped using quills. I feel like they would just be a wee bit of an inconvenience)**_

James nodded. "Anyway, Congratulations on making the team. The first practice is tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, huh? I'll be there."

"Okay? But you will be okay for practice right?" James asked.

Mercy knitted her brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well you just in the hospital wing… are you fit to be flying?" Remus asked.

"Oh… yeah. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Mercy said truthfully. She was feeling a lot less stiff today. James was no longer listening to Mercy, because Lily Evans had just entered the classroom taking a seat next to Mary McDonald. He rumpled his hair up. Mercy smiled shook her head and started digging around in her bag for potions textbook.

"Good Morning Class!" Professor Slughorn said, walking up to his desk with a smile on his chubby but friendly face. There was a chorus of 'Good Morning, professor' and Slughorn continued. "Today we shall be brewing a Girding Potion. Does anyone have any idea how a potion such as this can be useful? Yes Miss Evans."

Lily's hand was the quickest in the air. She sat up in her seat and said, "The Girding potion is used to raise the endurance of the drinking, therefore it could be useful in many contexts. Manuel labors, or for extended studying time so on and so forth."

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now also keep in mind that drinking too much of this potion could be harmful so don't get any ideas about using it all the time. Now, we are kind of crunched for time, so I will be brief. You will be working with you partner to brew this potion. At the end of class each potion can be tested on one of these rats at the front. Five points will be awarded for every correct potion. But a word of caution, if the potion is brewed incorrectly, it will be will either put the rat to sleep or poison it and five points will be deducted. So you and your partner will decide whether or not to test the potion. I have instructions written on the board. Go get your ingredients and get started." He said clapping his hands.

Remus looked over at Mercy who had started to copy down the instructions off the board onto the notebook paper. She ripped out a page. "Here's the ingredients list. Do you mind running over to the cupboard to get them?" She asked.

"Okay," Remus joined the queue of people going to get their supplies. When he got back with everything, Mercy had the instructions copied down, and her pewter caldron put in the middle of their table.

Mercy and Remus prepped the ingredients according to the instructions and started. Remus was on edge because he wasn't good with potions. Mercy saved the potion more than once and gave one piece of advice to Remus. "The thing with potions is the instructions are very important but you also need to feel when you do the next part of the potion. It's kind of like bending a stick to see how far it can go without breaking it. So the instructions are important but don't let them take your focus off the potion"

Mercy had a knack for telling when to do the next step but had trouble remembering quantities. Remus was good at that so together they made the potion well. It was the precise green that it was supposed to be. Mercy smiled and she and Remus started to clean up they're area. Remus put the potion into a vial and cleaned out the cauldron.

"So do you think we should test it?" Remus asked.

Mercy nodded. "I'm fairly certain it is right. We might as well." Their table cleared, they gave their potion to Slughorn.

He took it with a smile. "Are you testing this potion?" Remus nodded and Slughorn tested it on a light grey rat. A few drops had it running around in circles. "Well, done. That will be five points to Gryffindor. Perhaps you two should partner more often." He winked and both Mercy and Remus smiled. They walked to Transfiguration together.


	12. Chapter 12- I Do What I Want

_**Author's Note**_

_**Disclaimer- **_I do not possess the rights to Harry Potter's world, Characters, or any of Mrs. Rowling's ideas or work.

_**On with the Story **_

**Chapter 12- Whatever, Whatever. I Do What I Want**

Oakley wiped the sweat from her brow. Trina was tough. She had them run around the Quidditch pitch four times just as a warm-up. Oakley knew Mercy wasn't all that found of running but Oakley didn't mind it. She ran with Mercy although Mercy's pace was a good bit slower than what Oakley could handle.

Everyone split up into 3 respective groups. The chasers and Oakley would be working together, while the beaters would be practicing separately, and Mercy was told to fly around and try to find the snitch.

Oakley looked at the team; she knew of most of the people on the team, like Justin Sekata, a legendary beater. Rumor had it he had been approached by the pros in his 5th year. He hadn't signed anywhere, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time. He was working with Ash Martinkovich, trying to break him of some bad habits.

The boy who had nearly knocked her right off her broom in tryouts, Greg Panther, was learning some of the basic Gryffindor chaser formations. Oakley was told to catch any shots that came her way. James, Trina, and Greg seemed to work very well together but overall, they were too predictable to make any real challenge for Oakley.

Oakley focused on the oncoming chasers. Trina overhead passed the quaffle to Greg who surged forward. He aimed at the right ring but Oakley could tell it was a fake-out because Greg's eyes kept shifting to James who was hovering toward the left ring. Oakley waited for a couple seconds and Greg made a pelting pass to James who caught it and tossed it toward the left ring but Oakley spiraled over and kicked the ball to Trina.

"Nice one, Milova. Greg, Make sure you don't clue the keeper into the play. Keep your eyes focused on the ring, and then allow yourself a second adjust. Then the keeper won't have as much time block it." Trina said. "Let's run another one."

Practice ran on for what felt like ages. Oakley blocked shots, dodged bludgers, and eventually worked on returning the quaffle to a teammate after a shot. She did drop kicks, intended for a teammate who was a good bit out of the scoring range. She also worked on reverse passes with Greg.

About a half an hour before practice was due to be over; Mercy dived toward the ground. Oakley stopped watching the chasers to watch her. She had spotted the snitch about three feet away from the ground and pulled out of the dive right before she crashed. Ducking under a bludgers, she put on a burst of speed. The snitch was slowly getting higher up. Mercy stood up on her broomstick stuck her arm up and plucked it right out of the air. Shifting her weight on her back foot, her broom rose up and she jumped back into a seated position. She flew up to Trina, who grinned and took the snitch.

"Alright, team. Good practice. I think I'm going to let you guys go now. Gryffindor has the pitch Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Our first match of the season will be against Slytherin 2nd Saturday in November, so get ready for a brutal match. We'll talk strategy Thursday. Hit the showers!"

Everyone flew to the locker room. Oakley landed next to Mercy.

"Hey! I feel like I haven't seen you all day." She said.

Mercy looked over, confusion settled on her face. "We were in class together all day…"

"I know that stupid. You didn't sit next to me at all: not even at lunch." She said.

Mercy shot her an exasperated look. "Dude, how was I supposed to do that if Charlie took the seat every time?"

"Oh yeah..." She said uncomfortably.

Mercy sighed. "Is Charlie that mad at me?"

"I think it's not you so much as he's kind of mad at himself… I'll talk to him if you want"

"No no no… I should be the one to talk to him. Ugh… I hate boys." Running a hand through her tangled red hair, courtesy of the wind.

Oakley smirked. "Even this Remus Lupin who you sat next to in every class today?"

Mercy punched her arm, but couldn't hide the blush that rose to her cheeks, paired with a goofy grin.

888

Charlie and Oakley walked out of breakfast together. Oakley bent down to tie her shoe, so Charlie just gazed around the Entrance Hall watching the third years handing their permission forms for Hogsmeade. He saw the excited faces of his fellow students, in the corner he saw Mercy talking animatedly to Remus with a huge grin on her face.

He turned away from her, and gritted his teeth. _'Fine… I'm jealous… That doesn't mean I have to admit it.' _ Oakley stood after she finished tying her shoe.

"I'm all set to go! Oh, I'm sooooooo excited!" She squealed. Charlie looked over at her but her smile slipped. "Listen, I know you wanted Mercy to come with us, but you can't let that stop you from enjoying yourself. This is HOGSMEADE. I've been looking forward to this ALL SUMMER." She said. Charlie shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. He and Oakley followed the crowd out the door.

It was a blustery day; the wind was whipping things out of people's hands and many people were ducking into shops as fast as they could. They walked down the most popular street for students. Many of the best stores were already packed. Honeydukes was so packed that the crowd was practically out the door.

Charlie sighed, he had wanted to pick up some candy, but Oakley shook her head. "What do you think about exploring a little bit? The hype for those shops will probably die down a little bit soon. I bet Hogsmeade has a lot of smaller stores that we haven't seen yet." She said and Charlie nodded.

"Yeah alright. Did you still want to look for something for your dad?" He asked, recalling the conversation they had had in the library.

"Oh, Yeah! I almost forgot about that."

They got to the end of the main road and turned right and walked down the much less crowded lane. They walked, peeking in and out of stores. Charlie saw a small store that sold some magical school supplies and was staring at the interesting array of quills of all colors and sizes.

"Charlie." Oakley said testily. He broke away from the indigo feather quill he was admiring and looked over to Oakley's thoughtful face.

Oakley stared at him; the wind had caught her long black her and it was blown from her face. She was rather unreadable; when she spoke her voice was hesitant. "I really think you should back off Mercy."

"Of course you take her side." He crossed his arms looking into her eyes.

"You are so bloody unreasonable! This isn't about sides. Heck, this isn't even about me. I didn't you think you would let anything get in between you and your best friend." She said, the unreadableness long gone from her face and replaced with an anger that was rarely present. Charlie broke eye contact and looked down at the ground.

Oakley sighed, "Charlie, do you remember in 2nd year when some 7th year dweeb tripped you in the hallway and all your books and papers scattered everywhere? Do you remember what Mercy did?" She asked, her voice returning to a softer tone.

Charlie thought for a moment, looking up at the sky. "She hexed his tongue to the roof of his mouth." He remembered that day well; Mercy got her first detention ever. And she didn't even complain about it.

"Exactly." She said, looking at him imploringly. "And she would do a lot worse to anyone who tried to pull any of that nonsense on you now. Do you understand? Mercy cares about you." Charlie looked at her; he had a feeling he knew what she would say next. "Thing is she also cares about Remus. You know she wouldn't date him to make you unhappy."

Charlie swallowed, voicing what had been bothering him. "It just doesn't seem fair. What does he have that I don't?"

Oakley looked sad. "Charlie… It's not that simple." There was silence as she struggled to find something else to say.

Charlie looked down the street, and then his eyes drifted toward the sky and the clouds. He pictured himself with Mercy, enjoying the delights of Hogsmeade with her and her laugh. "I just want things to be different."

Oakley was quiet still… she looked at him hesitantly. "You know how school is supposed to be. Relationships just don't last very long. But you know... she could do a lot worse than Remus. At least he's a decent fellow."

Charlie nodded grudgingly. If it had to be any one, at least it was Remus. He wasn't the type to mess around with girls and their feelings. Had it been Sirius… Charlie shook his head. Mercy wasn't stupid; she wouldn't fall for Sirius's flirting.

Oakley smiled slightly. "What say you and I go to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, alright."

**Author's Note**

**Review Puh-lease!**


	13. Chapter 13- Let the Plotting Begin

**Author's Note:**

**It's April fool's Day and so there are signs of mischief about to happen... OoOOOooh.**

**Disclaimer- **Yes, I am secretly the mastermind Harry Potter and I own everything I wrote about in here. Heavy Sarcasm, That statement is definitively** false. **

**Chapter 13- Let the Plotting Begin**

Oakley and Charlie walked back to the castle after spending all afternoon wandering around trying to find a present for Oakley's father. Oakley eventually settled on a set of playing cards that she was able to design herself in the store and some candy from Honeydukes. She told Charlie that she was probably going to hand-make a manual with pictures so he could figure out some new games to play with the cards.

She also found a pair of socks that would cry if they weren't chosen to be worn. She picked out one of the kookiest patterns she could find, orange and purple argyle with phoenix's flying over the top. Charlie was apprehensive to say the least. He had met Oakley's dad, who was pretty cool but he didn't know what Oakley's mother would do. Maybe her staying at Hogwarts over Christmas break would be a good idea.

As they walked down the back alley again, they stumbled on a music store call Dominic Maestro's. Charlie knew by instinct that Mercy would fall in love with the place and tucked its location in the back of his mind to show it to her sometime.

They went down to supper, and had just started to eat when Mercy walked into the hall toward them. Her hair was windblown, and her cheeks were flushed. Sitting down across from them she started to load her plate.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" she said, smiling.

"Nothing really. We just got here." Oakley said. "So, what mischief did you get up to today?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

Mercy rolled her eyes and smirked. "I'll spare you the details..." She said in a suggestive tone of voice. She glanced over at Charlie, who felt his face go white. "Relax, I'm only kidding Charlie."

"Oh don't do that, we want to hear…._everything,_" Oakley said, trailing her voice off to a whisper. Charlie hastily diverted his eyes back down to his food, trying to somehow take interest in the vegetables he had piled on his plate.

"Remus and I went to Honeydukes. I swear he is obsessed with chocolate. After that we just wandered around; we looked in Zonko's and the bookstore. Funny though, he has a strong aversion to the Shrieking Shack…" She said, her expression becoming thoughtful. Charlie found that a little odd as well. _'You'd think the most haunted place in Britain would attract troublemakers like the Marauders'_ "Anyway, what did you guys do?" Mercy asked.

Charlie swallowed a bite of his sandwich. "We went around the back streets. There are some neat small shops that we looked in. Did you know there is a music store?"

Charlie watched her face light up. "Really? What's it like?"

"It's cramped; they have a really nice grand piano, baskets of music, and practically every instrument you could imagine."

"Wow! The three of us really ought to check that out next time. Say Oaks, did you look up those spells that we talked about last week?" Next time? Charlie thought. If she was planning on chilling out with them on the next trip, maybe the date hadn't gone so well. This thought cheered him and he continued eating his dinner.

"Yeah, I have them on some paper in my bag… Do you want to do it tonight?" Oakley looked up excitedly. Uh-oh. Do what tonight? Charlie questioned, hoping it was homework related. Never mind. Neither Oakley nor Mercy would want to do homework whilst in their right minds.

Mercy grinned. "Well, seeing as we don't have school tomorrow, I don't think staying up late will be too big of a problem. Hey Charlie, are you in?"

Charlie rubbed one hand across his face. Well if they wanted to stay up late to do it, this definitely meant trouble. "Why do I have a feeling that this would get the three of us a one way ticket to detention?" He looked between faces of his best friends.

"You don't have anything better to do, Might as well" Oakley said with a grin.

"Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssse?" Mercy bit her bottom lip and shot him a classic Mercy puppy-dog look. Charlie weighed the benefits, he would hopefully be able to officially patch up things with Mercy, but he would probably have to stay up nearly all night, and risk being caught and spending an inordinate amount of time in detention. Well the choice was obvious.

"Why do I feel like we've already had this conversation before?" Oakley said grinning.

"Because we have, too many times…fine" Charlie conceded. Mercy whooped happily, drawing the eyes of the people sitting next to her. When they looked away, he continued. "I'll do it, but you have to let me finish my dinner first." He said, picking up his sandwich.

"Any more demands, my liege?" Oakley said bowing her head a little.

Charlie smiled, and with a royal air said, "Nothing that comes to mind. But if I think of something, you'll be the first to know, peasant." Oakley stuck out her tongue at him and he winked and continued to eat his sandwich.

"Good old Charlie. This is going to be great." Mercy said.


	14. Chapter 14- I Solemnly Swear

**Author's Note**

**Yeah, I'm really sorry I'm late for updating. I got sick, didn't go to class yesterday and then got attacked by Zombies. Long Story… but I have unfortunately I have joined the undead… **

**Disclaimer-** I still don't own Harry Potter, but still feel responsible for reminder my faithful readers (To be honest, this is for me more than it is you). [Just trying not to get sued]

**So on with the story -**

**Chapter 14- I Solemnly Swear to Pull Epic Pranks**

Charlie walked up to the stairs to his dorm at five in the morning. He tried to be very quiet so he wouldn't disturb his roommates. Opening the door very slowly, he could make out the sleeping figures of the marauders in the early morning light. He crept in and closed the door behind him.

Charlie took two steps and in mid stride felt his foot hit something. He was knocked off balance and let out a yelp as he went down. He skidded across the floor and crashed hard into James's trunk.

James bolted upright with a shout and leaped onto Sirius's bed who yelled in agony as James had driven his elbow into his stomach. Peter fell off his bed and started screaming like a little girl. Charlie groaned and tried to push himself upright. He glanced toward his only roommate who had yet to make a sound.

Remus looked over at a clock near his bed, and sat up like a zombie; He had a distinctly dead look in his eyes, and Charlie braced himself for what would inevitably happen next.

Brandishing a textbook in one hand and his wand in the other, Remus yelled "YOU TOSSERS! It's five in the morning." Everyone went quiet except Sirius, who was still groaning.

With a flick of his wand, the room was flooded with light. From his spot on the floor, Charlie could now see that . James was hugging Sirius, Sirius was trying to pry him off and Pete was huddled in his blanket under Sirius's bed with his head poking out looking up at Remus. "What the hell are you idiots on about?" Remus said a little calmer, putting his book down.

James finally released Sirius from the bear hug. "Well, I was sleeping and I heard someone yelp and then my whole bed moved… so I jumped over to Sirius's bed to… err… wake him up?"

"You impaled me with your elbow, you arse!" Sirius shoved James off his bed, and James just sat on the floor.

"I'm sorry…" Charlie muttered. His roommates all stared at him. He swallowed. "I was trying not to wake you guys up, but I tripped over something." He looked toward the door, but he saw no obstacle that he possibly could've tripped over. James smiled sheepishly and ruffled his hair.

"Oh yeah. Sirius and I noticed that you weren't back at like 11 so we set a tripping hex in front of the door for a laugh… but I guess we fell asleep." He grinned up at Sirius. Charlie rolled his eyes. He was only faintly annoyed but judging Remus's expression, .

"Anyway, why did you get in so late?" James asked, looking at Charlie trying to deflect Remus's evil glare.

"Mercy and Oakley roped me into something stupid." He said, not in the mood to elaborate. He just wanted some sleep.

"What were you doing?" asked Peter, who had finally emerged from underneath the bed.

"You'll see." Charlie said, cryptically. _'If they hadn't cast that tripping hex, I might have told them. Might as well keep them guessing.' _He clumsily rose to his feet and collapsing on his bed. He felt himself sink sleepily into the warm darkness caused by his face in his pillow.

Through a sleepy fog her heard the other boys talk.

"He could fall asleep in a coffin" James said.

Sirius chuckled, and responded"Lucky fellow, What do you guys think about trying to find out what Charlie was up to?"

"Are you serious? But it's so early" Peter's quiet voice said.

"Are you kidding? I'm always Sirius." Charlie could almost see the smirk on his face

There was a soft thud and an oomph on the other side of the room. "That's getting old, Black." Snarled Remus, who was still considerably pissed off. "I'm not going anywhere," he added.

"Well I'm in." said James. There was some rustling, and the quiet squeak of the door as they left the room. In the silence, Charlie sank into the darkness.

888

James, Peter, and Sirius ran around the school but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. It was around seven now and by this time people were started to emerge from their houses. Soon a rumor started buzzing around. People were gathering in groups, grabbing their friends to tell them the news. James, Sirius, and Peter stopped near a couple of Hufflepuffs in their year.

"… Humongous slide… Astronomy tower," a slim girl with purple hair that James recognized as one of the girls in his Charm's class. He didn't know her name.

The other girl was in his class as well. Her hair was short and black, and he vaguely thought her name might have be Kat… or something. He walked up to them. "What did you just say?" He asked the purpled haired one.

"Erm, someone put a slide on top of the Astronomy tower?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and no one knows who did it." Piped up her friend. James smirked. He had a feeling he knew who was behind it.

"Do you think the teachers will let us use it?" He asked. Regardless, he wasn't about to let a silly thing like teachers stop them from checking it out.

"I think Flitwick said it was safe, but McGonagall said whenever they find out who did it, they will be in a ton of trouble." Said the purple haired one.

"Thank you." He said, leaving the girls behind him. He told Sirius what he had overheard, and with a grin they both took off toward the Astronomy tower followed by Peter, who was managing to keep up with them rather well. They were intercepted along the way by an irritated Professor McGonagall.

"Potter, Black, and Pettigrew! I don't suppose you have any idea how a giant slide ended up on the balcony of the Astronomy tower?"

"Why do you always assume when something happens that it is us?" asked Sirius indignantly.

"Because you have never given me any reason to think otherwise Mr. Black." She said sternly.

James grinned. "As much as we would like to take credit for this one, I can honestly say we had nothing to do with it."

"Really, Professor!" Peter said earnestly.

McGonagall sized the three up with narrow eyes. She sighed. "Well, seeing as I have no proof, I'm going to let you off this time. Behave yourselves." She said finally walking away.

"Let's go get Moony! We should try it out." James said excitedly.

"So this is why Charlie got in so late?" Peter asked.

"Probably, but we can ask him." James said. They ran back toward the Gryffindor common room. After climbing through the portrait hole, they saw Oakley and Mercy by the fire.

"Charlie said it was Oakley's idea. So just let him sleep, I'll ask those two." James said. "Go get Moony, but don't be an idiot. I swear, he was going to strangle the lot of us this morning."

Sirius grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it." Peter and Sirius headed for the stairs up to their dorm. "Pete, so how mad do you think he would be if we drenched him?"

James shook his head and walked over to Oakley and Mercy. Mercy was curled up in a ball and she was staring with her tired eyes at Oakley with a concerned expression. Oakley was drinking what appeared to be black coffee and between sips was a consistent flow of chatter.

"Morning" James said cheerily. Mercy looked up and smiled. Just as she opened her mouth to respond Oakley leaped into the air.

"Hullo James! Excellent to see you. Absolutely spiffing. Marvelous morning, isn't it? I love mornings! It's a great feeling to know you didn't snuff it, yeah?" James stared at Oakley baffled.

"I suppose…" He said.

Oakley took another swing of coffee and continued. "Mercy doesn't like coffee for, which is weird, yeah? I mean her dad drinks probably two pots of the stuff every morning and her mum likes to have a cup or two once in a while. Is liking the taste of coffee genetic? Because if it is she should totally-" James mouth dropped open a little bit. But Oakley kept going, hardly bothering to take a breath as she discussed Mercy's distaste of coffee with herself.

James shot an apprehensive look at Mercy. "Help me…" He muttered. Mercy rubbed her eyes and finally spoke up. "Oakley, give me that coffee before you talk him to death." Mercy said, grabbing the cup out of her hand. Oakley stopped her chatter and sat down on the couch grumpily. James stared at her with wide eyes. "Morning James. Oakley and I didn't get much sleep last night so she thought it would be a grand idea to drink coffee." Mercy put the coffee cup on the table next to her side of the couch.

"Riiiiiiight… Well I actually came over to ask you guys about a certain slide from the top of the Astronomy Tower." James said. Oakley immediately began rambling again.

"Is it all over the school already? Do they know who did it? Can we-" Mercy smacked her upside the head with a pillow.

"You can't prove we had anything to do it," Mercy said smirking at the indignant expression on Oaks face. Oakley snatched the pillow out of Mercy's hand and whacked her upside the head. "Hey, watch it!" She said, tucking the pillow under her arm. "Anyway, this story sounds interesting. Do tell more" Mercy smiled teasingly.

James explained what he, Sirius, and Peter had found out about the slide. As he was talking a surly-looking Remus was being dragged down the stairs of the boys dorms by Sirius followed by a laughing Peter.

"…So McGonagall thought it was us. But I think we both know who it actually was." He said grinning. "I assume?"

Oakley smirked, "Well, you know what they say about assuming. I makes an-"

Mercy shoved her pillow over Oakley's face again, effectively cutting off the burst. "So the teachers are actually going to let the students use it? That's awesome… but a little surprising."

Oakley pulled the pillow off her face and looked over at James dubiously. "You are serious, right?"

"Actually I'm Sirius." Sirius said grinning; Oakley rolled her eyes. "Black, heaven help you if I hear that joke one more time." Sirius winked at her, and she chucked the pillow at him, which he dodged, grinning cheekily.

"Yeah the teachers are letting students use it, but they said that if they find whoever's behind it, there would be trouble." James said to Mercy, because she appeared to be the only one still listening.

"Well let's go get Charlie and try it out!" Oakley said as she stood and sprinted up the stairs to the boys' dorm.

"Wait, you guys went through all that effort but didn't even use it?" James asked in amazement.

"I thought it would be more fun when we weren't about to collapse." Mercy said, looking over at Remus. Her eyes widened as she tried in vain to not to smile his moody expression. "You know it might do you some good." She said. Remus shook his head. Mercy grinned at him, and James watched as he let out a reluctant smile.

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All day, students of every house were running up the stairs and riding the tube back the ground. The more daring students, such as James, Sirius, and Oakley took it on headfirst while others (Charlie cough cough) tried to slow their decent with their hands.

At 8:30, Charlie, Oakley and Mercy got into position for their plan to get rid of the slide.

Mercy perched herself on one of the beams above the astronomy tower. She pointed her wand at the entrance of the slide, and conjured some thick metal bars that ran across the entrance of their project. There were several complaints from students who were in the line. She crouched down on the beam, trying to hide herself from the curious eyes of those looking for the instigator of the spell.

She cast a bunch of red sparks down the hallway, and the attention of those in the line was immediately drawn down the hall way. Oakley climbed on top of the slide, and dropped through it. Pointing her wand at the slide, she muttered, "_Glisseo_" and zoomed down the slide. She flew out of the end of the slide laughing, and took off in a jog as she tried to slow her momentum.

"Everyone's out Char! Do it." She said, stopping next to her blond haired friend. He pointed his wand at the slide.

"_Reducio_!" The slide began shrinking, detaching from the tower and slowly plummeting downward.

"It needs to shrink some more," Oakley said worriedly, it would be harder for him to hit it now that it was moving. She looked over at Charlie, who looked determined.

"_Reducio_!" He said again, and the red beam made contact with the slide once again, which shrunk further and fell to the ground with a light thump.

Oakley grabbed now pocket-sized slide and put it into her bag. She grinned over at Charlie, "Nice shooting, cowboy."

"You didn't think I'd hit it, did you?" he smirked over at her. She shrugged.

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"We are totally doing that again." Oakley announced as she, Mercy, and Charlie walked into the Gryffindor common room.

"We can't do the same thing twice." Mercy said, stretching and letting out a long yawn. "I'm exhausted; at least clean-up was easier than putting that monstrosity together. I'm going to bed."

"But it's only 9:30!"Oakley said, her face fighting a yawn.

Charlie noticed and rolled his eyes. "We were up all night, and we have class tomorrow." He said.

Mercy nodded in agreement. "I think I'm allowed to go to bed early tonight." She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Night Merce." Charlie said as she went up the stairs to the girls' dorm. He turned to address Oakley. "She's right, I'm off to bed. And we are not doing anything like that for a looooooooong time." He said, and then clapped her on the shoulder. "Night Oaks."

He then went up to his dorm. He peered down at Oakley from the top of the stairs. She stood in the middle of the common room staring into the fire, but then with a sigh of defeat meandered her way up to bed. Charlie opened the door to his room and with a triumphant smile, collapsed onto his bed

**Authors Note**

**Hey, If you got this far, I would love it if you were to shoot me a review! Please? Make my Day?**


	15. Chapter 15- Amateur Dueling

**Author's Note**

**Be very Proud, I didn't forget to update today. **

**Disclaimer- **You guessed it, I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 15- Amateur Dueling **

Oakley and Mercy were walking back to the common room, brooms in hand, after the rigorous Quidditch practice. The thought of a shower was calming for Oakley, and her body relaxed as she imagined the hot water beating against her skin. Mercy was fiddling with her wristband as she chattered about what the weather was going to be like at the big Slytherin game. They turned the corner and entered new hallway. But they found they weren't alone.

There stood Nadine Montgomery with three Slytherin cronies; Oakley could vaguely remember a couple of their names from a social gathering at her grandmother's ... She knew for sure one was Avery, another Macabre or something. It started with an M. The last was a giant blonde, but she couldn't recall his name.

Nadine was the first to speak. "Oh look! It's Oakley and her... what do you call a Mudblood? A pet?"

Mercy turned bright red, while Oakley paled. With a scowl, Mercy growled, "What do you want?"

"Ooh, I seemed to have touched a nerve with that one."

"Oh fuck off!" Nadine looked undeterred and neither nor her companions made any effort to get out of the way.

"Have a good Quidditch Practice? It's funny how hard Macintosh is pushing you guys just so you can lose this weekend" She said with her high laugh. The rest of the group standing behind her laughed as well.

"I think you'll be surprised." Oakley said simply. She was sensing the energy in the corridor growing, and she didn't want to be around if it burst. Under her breath she whispered to Mercy, "Merce, let's go." She looked at the look in Mercy's eyes. Mercy seemed to know that this would end in a fight, but also looked like she didn't care. DAMMIT... Oakley tried to think of some way to get them out.

Nadine laughed again, "Unlikely, No this time you'll be the one surprised." The other Slytherins pulled out their wands.

Mercy laughed. "That was just about the laziest retort I have ever heard." She looked over to Oakley, mentally trying to tell her something… But Oakley didn't understand. But looking over at the Slytherins it almost seemed as though they were put up to this by someone.

Oakley took a step away from the Slytherins. If she and Mercy could make a run for it, they could duck through a tapestry that would take them close to the common room. "Why don't we just settle this on the Quidditch pitch?" She said.

Nadine cocked her head to the side. "Oh, you're running away? I always knew your house was just full of bloody cowards."

Mercy rolled her eyes, "Bitch, please! You just aren't worth the effort." Oakley shot Mercy a guarded look. She might have just pushed them over the edge.

"Oh, so that's it." Nadine sneered and raised her wand. "Too bad you won't be around for the match. It looked like it was going to be a good one" Mercy and Oakley dropped their brooms, and hastily tried to pull out their own wands but not before the first spell was launched.

"_Diffendo_!" Nadine's voice rang out down the hall. A beam of yellow launched straight toward Mercy's face, she barely sidestepped it and it grazed her hair. Oakley snarled and finally getting a grip on her own wand yelled, "_Petrificus_ _Totalus_!" Her spell missed Nadine and hit the big blonde who stiffened like a board and fell to the ground.

Soon both sides were engaged in a high heat but amateur dual. Spells were bouncing every which direction. Oakley was disarmed by Nadine, but then she charged and jumped on top of her, grabbing her hair and punching her in the face. Mercy stunned Avery but the last one yelled in his low voice, "_Flagerate_!" Mercy didn't dodge quickly enough and took the full force of the spell to her wand arm. She yelled in agony, and dropped to the floor holding her arm.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps running toward them. Justin Sekata came running down the hallway and without a word sent a red stunner that hit the last male Slytherin in the chest, he fell to the floor. He ran up to Nadine and Oakley and pulled Oakley off of Nadine and stood between them, with his wand pointed at Nadine.

"What on earth is going on here?" Professor Flitwick ran as fast as his short legs would carry him up to the surly looking teenagers. He observed the carnage of the corridor trying to piece together what had happened, Avery, Mulciber, and Carrow were stunned on the floor. Justin was standing between Nadine and Oakley, Nadine had a fat lip and a bloody nose and Oakley a swollen eye and some claw marks on her cheek. Mercy with her hair cut raggedly in the front was trying to staunch blood running down her arm and onto the floor.

"We were trying to get back to the common room after practice and these loonies jumped us!" Oakley jabbed her finger in the direction of the Slytherins.

Nadine looked imploringly at the professor, "Please sir, we were only minding our own business when Mercy and Oakley came here and started picking a fight."

"That isn't even slightly true" Mercy said through clenched teeth.

Flitwick looked to Justin who shook his head, "Sorry Professor, I just got here. Mercy and Oakley were at practice with me, and I only saw the end of the fight, not who started it."

"Well, then I will be taking 15 points from each house, you three go get yourselves patched up, and do not fight in the corridors." Flitwick said to Oakley, Mercy, and Nadine. Flitwick revived the Slytherins and instructed them to go straight to their common room. Nadine stalked off by herself, while Oakley waited for Mercy.

Justin walked up to Mercy and asked, "What was that fight about?"

"I think that the Slytherins are trying to take out some of the members of the Quidditch team" Oakley said.

"They must be scared that they are going to lose." Mercy said smugly, but Justin looked concerned.

"And it means that they are getting desperate." He said, and stared down the corridor thoughtfully. "I'm going to go up to the common room and talk to Trina so we can warn the other members of the team. I'll take your brooms."

"That would be great, thanks." Oakley said. She extended her hand to Mercy which Mercy took and she rose to her feet. Justin, with their brooms in hand, headed to the common room.

They set off at a relatively slow pace; Mercy was trying to make sure she wasn't leaving a trail of blood for Filch to clean up. Oakley was glad, the last thing they needed now was the crazy caretaker and his demon cat on their case. When they got to the Hospital Wing, Nadine was nowhere to be found but Madam Pomfrey tsked at them and sat them down in chairs next to each other. She conjured an ice pack and gave it to Oakley in an attempt to slow the swelling of her eye while she moved over to Mercy to deal with the blood running down her arm.

Oakley watched with her one eye not covered by and ice pack as Madam Pomfrey worked on Mercy's arm. The Flaggerate Spell left deep wounds that twisted up her arm. She was dousing it in what Oakley thought was Essence of Dittany. She vaguely remembered that was what Madam Pomfrey had used on Charizard earlier that term. Mercy was at least sitting up through the process, although she winced as the potion touched her arm every so often. Madam Pomfrey wrapped up her arm in a white bandage, "Now I want you to stop by tomorrow morning before breakfast so I can redo the bandage. You are not to take your arm out of the sling unless you are sleeping, got it?"

"But, Quidditch…"

"Absolutely not until I give you the okay."

"Yes Ma'am." Mercy said resignedly, and stood up gingerly rubbing her arm. Madam Pomfrey dabbed some potion on Oakley's scratches that caused them to immediately scab over. She then took a look at Oakley's eye said it would be fine, but might be purple in the morning.

The girls thanked Madam Pomfrey but on their way out Charlie burst through the door looking frantic. "There you are!" He said, relieved to see them. But that first wave of relief was gone as quickly as it came as he looked at Mercy's arm in the sling and scratches on Oakley's face and her swollen eye.

"I heard you got into a fight, huh?" He said calmly, but it was a dangerous calm, like he could explode any minute. "You obviously found something better to do than meet me."

"Charlie, that isn't even what happened." Oakley said, bewildered but really annoyed. "I would have thought you would have taken our side with it."

"Why can't you just give it up? Clearly this isn't worth it! I'm not going to just sit around and watch it happen."

Mercy was staring at Charlie's face rather blankly, like she was looking for something. "Charlie. What's going on?" she asked quietly. Charlie looked at her, his eyes flickering between hers.

"I just told you." He said through clenched teeth, but Oakley could see something other than anger in his face now. Sadness, maybe fear?

"No, I know what you said. What's really going on?" Mercy said, pushing for a real answer, but Oakley knew that she had pushed too far.

Charlie's face became guarded. He scowled, turned around, and walked out of the room.


	16. Chapter 16- It's Dangerous to Go Alone

**Author's Note**

**Alright, the new chapter is coming your way! And here we meet one of my favorite people in this story! Of course you'll see why soon!**

**Anyway, I managed to be one of the Top ten Zombies in our on-campus Zombie Apocalypse game Bwah ha ha ha ha!**

**So it ended yesterday so now I have time to start writing new stuff. I have two new stories in development! And I am way excited for both of them.  
**

**Disclaimer- I do not own any rights to Harry Potter or anything that plays a role in his world. So yeah. **

**On with the Story!**

Chapter 16- It's Dangerous to Go Alone

Oakley splashed cold water on her face. It was early morning; 7:30 or thereabout, around a half hour until breakfast. She took in her now freshly washed face. The scratches that Nadine had left were looking better; she ran her finger along the gashes that were mostly healed. But her attention was mostly focused on the bright purple shiner right underneath her eye. It didn't look so bad, but she was already starting to prepare to convince anyone who asks that she does not have an abusive boyfriend. There were some spells that could probably get rid of it all together, but Oakley thought she'd just leave it.

She walked back into the dorm. Lily and Mary had already left and Blake McLellan was brushing her long, curly light brown hair. She turned as Oakley walked into the room.

"Hey Oakley." Blake said. Oakley smiled. Blake hadn't been in the dorm when Mercy and Oakley had gotten in last night. She had a tendency to sneak around the castle late at night with some of her friends from Hufflepuff, and they were pretty good at not getting caught, something Mercy and Oakley had yet to learn. "You've got a wee bit of a shiner there. Nadine got you good." Blake said, in her heavy Irish accent.

"How'd you hear about that?" Oakley asked. She had known that the members of the Quidditch team knew, as did Mary, Lily, and Rachel who had all been upstairs when Oakley and Mercy had come back from the hospital wing. All three had been sympathetic but Lily shook her head in disapproval. Oakley suspected the only reason that she claimed to dislike Quidditch had much to do with a certain messy haired chaser. Having sat with Lily, Mary, Mercy, and Rachel at one of the matches, she knew Lily was as prone to excessive cheering as the other Gryffindors.

"It's all over the school. I heard some kids talking about it in the Hufflepuff common room last night." Blake said.

Oakley rolled her eyes. The Hogwarts gossip network is taking its job much too seriously. She would have to jinx Bertha Jorkins's tongue to the roof of her mouth when she got the chance.

"Anyway, do you need me to walk you guys anywhere? Trina said members of the Quidditch team shouldn't be wandering around alone until after the big game." Blake said, but her eyes kept drifting to her clock.

"We might be a while, so you go ahead. I mean Merce isn't even up yet." Oakley gestured to Mercy's bed, the only one still occupied in the room.

Blake's eyes flickered over to the bed. "Right, I'll see you in class then?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup, see you." Oakley said. She walked over to Mercy's bed, but what she found was not pretty. Mercy's arm was soaked red. The curse wound must have reopened while she was sleeping.

"Merlin" Oakley murmured. She shook Mercy's good arm. "Merce. Mercy. Get up." She whispered hurriedly. Mercy groaned but didn't open her eyes. Well hopefully that means that she isn't unconscious. But she had to get up before the bleeding worsened. Oakley shook her a little harder. "Mercedes Erin Baines! You get up right now!" She said louder.

Mercy's eyes cracked open. "Eh?" She sat up, and let out a long yawn.

"You! You're covered in blood!" Oakley pulled Mercy into a sitting position. Mercy looked sleepily at her sheets, taking in the blood's presence. "Hey look at that. Red. Red so pretty" She picked at her soaked bed clothes.

Oakley stared at her. Mercy could be loopy in the morning sometimes but this was ridiculous. "I'm taking you to the nurse."

"I'm sooooooo tired," Mercy groaned and yawned, laying her head back down and curling into a ball. Oakley took a look at her; Mercy was wearing a formally white t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants but her shirt had patches where her blood had soaked through.

Oakley pulled her out of the bed, avoiding the blood as best she could. "Now Mercy; I'll grab you uniform and books. I don't want you bleeding all over them." She said.

888

Mercy sighed in exasperation as Oakley practically dragged her to the hospital wing. Of course she didn't fight back. Frankly, the combination of having just woken up and blood lost were not exactly improving her reaction time.

When she got to the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey began fussing over her. She forced Mercy into a chair and forced a blood replenishing potion into her hand and didn't move until Mercy had downed the whole vile. She then pulled out her wand and began muttering spells.

"Miss Milova, you best be off to class, Miss Baines will join you after I get her wound to re-close and I bandage it," The busy woman said. Mercy saw Oakley look over at her

"Your books for the day are in your bag with your uniform." Oakley said, putting Mercy's bag down next to Mercy's bed, while hiking her own bag up her shoulder. Oakley looked a little too concerned; Mercy wondered if there was something else bothering her. "Thanks ole mum, I owe you one" Mercy said.

"I'm going to go down for breakfast. I'll see you whenever you can make it to class." Oakley opened her mouth to continue, but she shut it, waved, and walked out.

After a while, the bleeding had finally slowed and Madam Pomfrey re-bandaged her arm. Mercy changed gingerly into her school uniform, and after she got her robes on, Madam Pomfrey put her in a sling and told her to come back up after lunch to get new bandages.

Mercy realized that she had already missed half of double potions. Of course it would be awkward to walk in so late but she really couldn't find a good reason not to go. She sighed and walked down the stairs toward the dungeons.

**Review if you can!**


	17. Chapter 17- Bloody Nuisance

**Authors Note**

**Hello world! It's starting to get to be glorious outside. It was like 70 degrees on campus a few days ago. So Gorgeous… Sigh. **

**Anyway, I got a tank of reviews from someone called… **_Luna the HP fan_? **Thank you sooooo much! I really appreciate feedback. Siriusly, it is much appreciated! And don't worry, I have full intention to finish this story… but I'm not going to apologize for the cliffie. Sorry not sorry :P But I have full intention to keep up with the story and I will try to answer all questions within the story. If it looks like I'm leaving a loose end, let me know and I will do my best to make sure it is tied. **

**Mandatory Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter… yeah. **

**On with the Story!**

Chapter 17- Bloody Nuisance

Remus was sitting at breakfast with his fellow Marauders when their usual chattering was interrupted by a small commotion. Remus looked over to see Oakley and Charlie arguing not so quietly a few seats down from him on his left. Charlie's voice was very low, and he looked angry. Oakley's voice was slightly loud and shrill. One of her eyes was purpled, that must have been from her fight with Montgomery. Oakley wasn't talking quite loudly enough for Remus to make out what she was saying over the din. Her eyes were watery but that didn't seem to faze Charlie. Remus didn't see Mercy there either. He wondered where she was, hoping she didn't get hurt that badly in her fight the night before.

Remus was finally able to make a bit of the conversation.

"Why can't you just let us have fun? Be ourselves?" Oakley said. Charlie rolled his eyes.

"Sorry if I'm not going to just listen to this lecture from someone who still lets her mum pick out her clothes." He shot back. Oakley flinched, her face going white. She glared angrily at Charlie.

"At least my parents fucking care." She snarled while stepping over the bench, grabbed her bag. She walked stiffly out of the room. Charlie was red in the face, and looked insanely hurt and then slightly ashamed. He began to play with his food and looked up and made eye contact with Remus. He shot him a dirty look and looked away. Remus was slightly taken aback, what had he done to deserve that?

It seemed to him that without Mercy around, Charlie and Oakley seemed to argue a lot.

But Mercy wasn't in class either. Remus's eyes scanned the potion's dungeon looking for her wild red hair, but only finding the darker red hair of Lily. Oakley was sitting quietly at her desk, not talking nor moving: something very uncharacteristic of her.

Charlie was hunched over on his desk across the classroom from her with his chin resting on his crossed arms. He sat purposefully facing a different direction than Oakley. Slughorn began his lesson, and Remus sank into note taking mode, but his thoughts lingered on Mercy.

888

Mercy flinched as the door to the potions classroom creaked loudly as she pushed it open. Everyone in the class looked around at the noise and stared at her. Mercy blushed uncomfortably at the sudden attention and made eye contact with Remus, who smiled at her. The corners of her mouth curved upward slightly and she winked quickly but then she turned to her professor. Slughorn, who had stopped talking when he lost his students attention, took in the sight of Mercy and her heavily bandaged arm.

"Mercedes m'lass, you're very late. Come take your seat so I can keep class going," he said in his booming voice. Mercy sheepishly walked over and put her stuff in the vacant seat next to Oakley.

Slughorn continued his lesson, and Oakley pushed her notebook over to Mercy's side of the desk and began whispering, gesturing at her notes. In truth, Oakley was explaining what had happened at breakfast, but Mercy started copying down Oakley's notes to make it appear like Oakley was simply explaining what she had missed. As Mercy finished coping down Oakley's notes, sparse as they were, she looked thoughtfully over at Charlie. He was diligently taking notes as usual, but making an effort to resist looking back at Mercy. Still, Mercy caught an occasional glance in her direction. Charlie's face was red and his teeth were clenched. It was a rare expression which Mercy had come to associate with trouble at home. Perhaps something happened again between his parents… she shook her head slowly, trying to shoo away assumptions. He might just still be riled up from his fight with Oakley. She would try to ask him again later, If he wasn't still furious.

Potions dragged by slowly, Slughorn was simply lecturing on poison antidotes and new techniques that Mercy felt were rather self-explanatory. The day on a whole lagged horribly. Mercy was praying that Madam Pomfrey would deem her able to play in the big Slytherin/Gryffindor match.

Trina tracked her down after her last class. "Baines, wait up!" Mercy turned as Trina elbowed her way through the throng of people crowding the hallway. "Do you have a second?" Trina asked, looking slightly disheveled. Mercy nodded. "I need to know if I need to call in Taylor to sub for you in the match tomorrow."

Mercy sucked in a deep breath, "Well… Madam Pomfrey has to give me the okay. I should be fine" Mercy said, but she wasn't actually sure if she would be allowed to play and it probably showed on her face.

Trina looked at her apologetically, "Mercy, I'm sorry, but I just don't know what to do with you at this point. I don't really have time to break in a back-up but I can't risk putting you in if you are still hurt."

Mercy shook her head. "Trina, none of this is on you. I will respect your decision whatever it ends up being. I'm actually going up to the hospital wing right now to see if I can at least take off this damn sling. To be honest, it's been a bloody nuisance all day."

Trina's eyes shifted past Mercy's face as she gazed off into the distance for a while. She broke the silence suddenly, "Would you mind if I were to come up to the hospital wing with you? If I can figure out how badly you are injured, I should be able to decide sooner."

Mercy thought for a second, "Yeah I guess. But we might be late for dinner."

"That's fine. I won't be able to eat proper until we get this sorted."

888

Mercy and Trina arrived in the hospital wing, and as if on cue, Madam Pomfrey bustled up. Trina explained the situation to Madam Pomfrey, who listened but insisted that she needed to be sure Mercy would be alright.

Mercy made a request. "If my arm has stayed closed all day and is still fine tomorrow morning, can I play? I will be careful. I promise." She said imploringly.

Madam Pomfrey's expression softened. "Alright dear. If that is the case, you have my permission on one condition. If at any time during the match it reopens or starts to hurt, Miss Macintosh is responsible for removing you from play."

Trina nodded. Madam Pomfrey removed Mercy's bandage. The wound had indeed stayed closed all day and was healing very nicely according to Madam Pomfrey. She put on a fresh bandage and also allowed Mercy to go without the sling. Mercy and Trina set out from the Hospital wing and reached a fork in the corridor.

"Mercy, there will be an emergency team meeting around eight in the common room. Please see if you can make it." She said as she marched down the path to the great hall.

Mercy stood in silence for a second, and headed the opposite way. She was headed for the library. Upon arrival, she wandered to the far corner to her usual study place to find, as she had hoped, a preoccupied Charlie studying. She carefully walked over and pulled out a chair across from him and sat down. Charlie glanced up at her and with a sad look in his eyes, looked away. She looked at him, and he stared determinedly at his books, but no longer reading.

Mercy took a breath and said quietly "Hey." Charlie looked up at her and swallowed.

"Hullo" They looked at each other awkwardly. Mercy could tell that he was as unsure of what to say as she was.

"Charlie, I really am sorry. But I think you are taking this whole thing quite ridiculously." She said carefully, watching his face. Charlie's eyes flickered back and forth between hers.

He sighed. "I know, I've been bang out of order with this. But this Quidditch thing is dangerous. The only thing I can see is you guys getting hurt. For no good reason"

"Charlie." She said "I think it's _fun_, pushing limits, seeing what I can do if I put my mind to it. That's what sports are. People working hard to become the best they can be. What if I were a baseball player? They may not fly around, so the danger of falling isn't as critical, but they work hard and a lot of things could go wrong. I want to be the best version of myself. Don't you want that too?" She asked.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I guess. But aren't there more safe ways for you push to boundaries and have fun?"

Mercy's mouth contoured into a tight line. "I just can't help but think that us playing Quidditch isn't the only thing bothering you." Charlie's face reddened and he again started clenching his teeth. "See, you are making that face again. What is going on?"

Charlie looked away, and started to fiddle with the pages of his book. Mercy sat quietly, looking at him. She decided not to say anything, and hope that he would eventually break the silence. Seconds ticked by, and Mercy grew impatient.

She stood up and began to walk away, but as she started down one of the isles of books, she heard Charlie call her name.

"Mercy, wait!" He said coming up behind her and grabbing her good wrist. "I do want to tell you, I really do." He said, urgently. "Just not here." He let her wrist fall and looked around. They were getting the evil eye from Madam Pince.

"Well, where do you want to go?" She asked. Charlie looked back at her.

"Here's the thing. I bet Oakley told you what I said at breakfast, and I'm sure she's still mad. But I'm not angry with her anymore, and what I'm going to tell you, I want her to know. So do you think we could talk? Like, the three of us?"

Mercy crinkled her eyebrows. "We have a team meeting at 8 in the common room. I think Trina will want us to go to bed early, but maybe we can sneak down to the garden after it's over." She said.

Charlie shook his head. "No you guys should get lots of sleep. If I can't stop you from playing, then I should at least force you to take care of yourself."

Mercy rolled her eyes, "Well what about you, huh? If there is something bothering you we can listen. We will."

"Tomorrow. After the match, in the garden. I promise." He said.

"Okay. We'll be there." Mercy said. Instinctively, she hugged him. "But I can't promise that Oakley won't jinx you into next month." She said as she let go.

Charlie sighed. "I didn't mean it. I was sorry the moment it came out of my mouth."

Mercy shrugged. "She is a little touchy about home." The two walked to the Great Hall for dinner.

**Hey… Heh heh hey!**

**Review please! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.**


	18. Chapter 18- The Exchange of Chocolate

**Author's Note **

**Here's the next chapter yo! **

**Disclaimer- I do not have the rights to Harry Potter, The characters or the world they inhabit. **

**Onward!**

Chapter 18- The Exchange of Chocolate

Oakley sat with most of the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team awkwardly. Trina was a half hour late for the meeting, which was peculiar to say the least. The team had gathered in the corner of the common room, sitting in a circle of wooden chairs.

Greg and Ash were talking about nerves, both of them were getting a little tense for their first match since joining. Mercy and James were discussing the Slytherin team's typical strategy, but Oakley, wasn't really invested in the conversation. She was instead looking at Justin, who was pacing back and forth, shooting a look at the Portrait hole every time someone would walk in. When it turned out not to be Trina, he would clench his teeth and look at his feet.

"Oakley. Hey Oaks!" Mercy said pulling on her arm. Oakley's attention snapped back to James and Mercy.

"Wha- What'd you say?" Oakley asked.

"James just asked you if you were nervous… but you weren't paying attention." Mercy said smiling. She looked past Oakley to glance at Justin. James followed her gaze. "Justin looks worried." She said as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"It is a bit odd isn't it? Trina is never late." James said thoughtfully. "Oi! Sirius, Get over here!" He called across the common room, where Sirius was enchanting the fire to make rude gestures as Peter watched. Remus was with them but he was dutifully doing his homework, as usual.

"What?" Sirius called back. He put his wand away and he walked over and took a vacant seat next to James. He and James started whispering back and forth. Oakley made out the words, "Find… Map…game" but she didn't make out any other words. Sirius stood up and saluted James.

"Anything else, Commander?" He asked. James stood up as well.

"At ease." Sirius dropped out of his salute. "You may bring the Privates Pettigrew and Lupin. If you can convince Moony to leave his homework behind." James said with a grin. Sirius grinned back. "Yessir." And with that he walked back to the fire. After a couple seconds and what looked like an exchange of a chocolate bar between Peter and Remus, Sirius ran up the stairs coming back down with a piece of parchment and he, Peter, and a reluctant Remus left the common room.

Oakley looked at James, "What was that about?"

James shook his head. "They're just going to try to track Trina down." Oakley exchanged a dubious look with Mercy, which James caught.

"Really! That's what I asked Sirius to do." He said earnestly.

"Well then, what was that thing about the map?" Oakley asked.

"Well, if I told you that, I'd have to Oblivate you." He said. James then turned to Justin. "Hey, Justin. Since you are the senior member of the team, do you have anything to say?" He asked. Oakley rolled her eyes at James's deflection, but turned to look at Justin all the same.

He looked back at James. "I'm not the captain." Justin said simply.

"Yeah, but surely Trina mentioned what she wanted to talk today with you." Ash said. Everyone looked at Ash who squirmed uncomfortably under everyone's gaze. He continued "I watch you guys discuss 'tactics' after nearly every practice." He grinned mischievously at the word 'tactics' and Justin looked slightly uncomfortable. It made Oakley smile though; maybe James was having some unnecessary influence over little Ash. Trina is going to have her hands full of troublemakers.

Justin looked at the team apprehensively before talking. "Alright team, Trina and I have been talking about what happened to Oakley and Mercy in the corridor the other day. It looks like the Slytherin team is desperate to take us out." Everyone watched him. He paced back and forth as he talked. "We think that the Slytherins might resort to very dirty tactics within the match itself. Trina has been seeking out some of the Gryffindors who were good at try-outs but not the best to form a reserve team. For the past couple of years, captains have opted out of training the reserve but Trina has decided that they will join half the practices and they will sub in and out of drills and on rare occasion participate in scrimmages."

Greg looked nervous. "Is it possible that you will ever start the reserve instead of us during a match?" He asked.

"You guys shouldn't have anything to worry about. You all have fought hard for your positions, and you earned them. As long as you give us no reason to think otherwise, Trina won't switch you out." Justin said.

"'So, was that all you had to talk to us about?" James asked.

Justin shook his head, "I don't think so, I'm fairly certain there was something else. But I don't know what Trina was up to."

Just then, Remus, Peter, and Sirius walked into the common room, followed by Trina. They walked up to the team, and Trina began talking. "Sorry I'm so late. I had just tracked down Taylor Kapowski and I was asking her if she could make sure to be able to play tomorrow in case Mercy is forced to sit out. As we were walking up the stairs to the common room she tripped and fell down 3 flights of stairs."

The teammates muttered and groaned. Mercy's mouth opened in horror. "Merlin's pants! Is she alright?"

Trina nodded. "She should be fine, that is after her leg heals. She fractured it, but Madam Pomfrey mended it in a heartbeat. She's not going to be able to play though."

Justin groaned. "Well there goes our reserve seeker, looks like we'll just have to ask Trey if he can step in." Trina nodded. "Alright guys the reason I called this meeting is talk to you about-"

Justin cleared his throat. "I just told them about the reserve team." Trina's face was blank. "I knew you'd want them to hit the sheets so I told them…well… to save time." He said waving his hand in a circular motion.

Trina stared at him for a second, "Oh. Alright." and then smiled faintly, "Thanks." She then began pacing. "Well, the second thing is watch your backs and those of each other. The Slytherin strategy in the match has always been brutal. They are usually willing to do whatever it takes to win. That means they don't care about fouls if it ends up giving them an advantage. So make sure that you are paying attention. Take care of yourselves." Trina looked at each member of the team individually.

"All right team, I want you all to head up to bed soon, I need you guys to bring you're A-game tomorrow. I'll meet you all at breakfast and we'll head to the pitch together. Goodnight." She said, then walked over to a couch and collapsed. The team dispersed, Ash and Greg both went straight to their dorm rooms, and Justin went and sat with Trina on the couch. James, Mercy, and Oakley all stood up. James went over to where his fellow Marauders were standing.

"Come on, let's go up to our room." James said.

"Give me a second." Remus said. Sirius shrugged and he, James, and Peter walked up the stairs. Remus walked over to Mercy and Oakley.

"Hello" he said.

"Hey, Remus. How have you been?" Mercy said with a smile. Oakley rolled her eyes and muttered a "see you later" into Mercy's ear and headed up to their dorm room.

"I've been well. Better than you have of late." He said, looking at her arm.

Mercy shook her head. "It's not as bad as you've probably heard. I'm fine."

Remus looked at her. "You know, I was just wondering if you… um… want to go do something after the match tomorrow." He said.

Mercy racked her brain, vaguely remembering she had something she was supposed to do… what it was though, she couldn't remember. Damn it, Charlie. That's what it was. Mercy bit her lip, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I already have a thing I have to do." Remus looked disappointed, and averted his gaze. Mercy moved her head slightly to catch his eyes. "But maybe Sunday, or after I finish my thing?" She said hopefully, praying he wouldn't think she was snubbing him.

Remus nodded. "Yeah, alright. Sunday then? After lunch?"

"Sounds great." Mercy said with a grin. She looked over at the couch and saw Trina looking at her. As much as she wanted to keep talking, Trina looked at her expectantly.

"I really ought to go to bed before Trina assassinates me. I'll see you tomorrow maybe?" Mercy said.

"Yeah..," He said. He smiled and walked up toward the stairs to his dorm. But he stopped and turned to Mercy. "Oh, Mercy. Goodnight." Mercy nodded and smiled. "Thanks, and you too." Remus turned and went up to his dorm. Mercy stood still staring at a spot on the wall smiling happily until Trina let out a small "Ahem". Mercy's eyes finally broke out of the stare.

"Right…"She muttered and went off to bed.

**Alrighty then, Review if you have time!**


	19. Chapter 19- Destiny Flower

**Author's Note**

**...**

**...**

**Sorry, I forgot to update... Whoops. **

**Disclaimer: I have no rights to Harry Potter's world or characters.**

**Onward!**

Chapter 19- Destiny Flower

Oakley never had a problem with nerves. Or at least she thought. Usually it would Mercy who would complain about butterflies. But that night she was restless. Nothing really to do about it, she was going to bed earlier than she usually did, but for some reason even 5 hours later, while the other girls were sound asleep in their beds, Oakley was laying in her bed not in the least bit tired.

Oakley sighed. It was probably hopeless. She stood up and walked over to the window. The grounds were dark, dimly lit by the moon. It was about half full, maybe a little more than that. It would probably be full in around a week. It would be an ideal time to go exploring, with the light of the full moon; visibility wouldn't be as big a problem.

Behind her, she heard the creaking of the door opening. Oakley turned around in confusion. To her surprise Blake walked into the room. Oakley did a quick double take to Blake's four poster; she had just assumed that the blankets had her sleeping figure beneath them but now that she took a really good look at it… Oakley opened her mouth to speak but Blake put a finger to her lips. Oakley pointed to the door and mouthed the words "Common room". Blake nodded and walked back out the door. Oakley put on some slippers and followed her down the stairs to the common room.

Blake was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Why're you still up? Don't cha have a big match today?" She said, curiously.

Oakley nodded, and then said, "I couldn't sleep, too wired. Why are _you_ getting in so late?" With a grin she continued. "What would our dear, sweet Lily say?"

Blake rolled her eyes, "She'd probably give me a responsibility lecture, 'this is bad for yer health, yada yada yada'. I was just with Dez, Kat, and Jess in the Hufflepuff common room. Dez had to go back to the Slytherin common room before Emma killed him. He's seeking for the Slytherin team tomorrow." She said.

Oakley looked at Blake in confusion. "What do you mean? Trina told us all the names the Slytherin Lineup, What happened to Flower?"

Blake stared blankly, "Destiny Flower? Yeah, he's the new seeker." Oakley looked stunned.

"He's… Dez… Destiny Flowers… Dude…I thought he was a girl."

Blake grinned. "His mum is crazy. She did one of those odd Muggle things and legally changed her name to Flowers. And for some reason she was convinced that Dez was going to be a girl, and when he was born she just kept the name."

Oakley exhaled. "That's rough."

"Yeah" Blake said, and let out a large yawn. "I think we both otta go to bed."

Oakley nodded and Blake walked up the stairs. Oakley curled up in a ball on the couch next to the fire. Staring at the flames she felt more relaxed. Oakley felt her eyes start to droop and she sank into the warm darkness.

Charlie woke up early on Saturday morning. He looked blurrily out of the window, and the sun had barely risen. He lay in bed for a few seconds, and he heard a rustling across the room. James, he saw, was sifting through some dirty laundry, presumably looking for his cleanest pair of pants.

It was then the Charlie remembered, it was Saturday, the day of the big Quidditch match. He got out of bed and got dressed. The rest of his roommates, besides James, were having a lie in. With a nod in Charlie's direction, James left the room. Charlie finished tying his shoes and followed shortly after.

As he walked down the stairs, he saw Oakley's figure curled up on the couch. He approached her and found her sleeping fitfully. Charlie made the mental judgment that she still had about half an hour before she really had to get moving. Charlie summoned his _Quidditch through the Ages_ book that Mercy had given him the year before from his bedside table and sat down in an adjacent chair and began to read.

Charlie found Quidditch sort of interesting, but he didn't like the fact that people put themselves in harm's way to score points. The rules and strategy involved were fascinating, but he wasn't really found of the danger factor.

Charlie stopped reading. "Danger factor. Most Gryffindors would leap at the chance," he thought. He fingered a piece of paper that he had slipped in back cover of his book. It was a letter from his father that he had gotten in the evening four days previously. He pulled it out, read it once. It had made him angry, no furious at first. But now he was just sad, and disappointed.

He had wanted to tell Mercy and Oakley, but then they had gotten in that stupid Quidditch fight with Montgomery. But Mercy could already tell that there was something wrong, and Oakley was also catching on. They were just too observant for their own good. The truth was, he was just afraid. Afraid to break down, to let himself be seen. Maybe he didn't belong in Gryffindor after all.

Oakley began to stir. She groaned, stretched, and sat up. She squinted around before her eyes focused on Charlie. "What's going o-o-o-on?" She asked as her mouth stretched in a huge yawn.

Charlie slipped the paper back in his book, and closed it. "I was just waiting for you to wake up; it's still a good bit before the match starts."

Oakley eyed him for a second. "I thought I said I was mad at you." She said.

Charlie shifted uncomfortably "Yeah. Right… Well I-… I'm sorry. What I said was low." He said as his eyes drifted to the ground.

"I know, I mean what I said was horrible too, so I guess we're square." She said. "Mercy said you had something you wanted to talk to us about. So are we still on for after the match, in the garden?"

Charlie sighed, "Provided you two don't get yourselves killed in the match today."

Oakley shot him a dirty look. "Listen to me." She said with so much contempt that Charlie startled. He made eye contact. "Mercy and I know exactly what we are getting ourselves into. Just trust our judgment. Even though something dangerous doesn't mean that it isn't worth doing. Quidditch is just something that we happen to be good at and when you are good at something, you work at it." Once she started it was always hard to get her to stop. Charlie looked at her sadly, and she kept talking.

"It was the one thing, THE ONE THING that I could do when I was a kid that got me away from my parents." She took a small breath and her expression softened. "In the sky, I feel free. Like I actually have control for once. And I don't want to lose it for anything. But you know what? I know you worry, and I understand. And we will be careful, I promise."

They sat in silence for a few seconds, which Charlie broke. "I know this means a lot to you "He said. "And yes it does make me nervous, but I'll try to back off a little."

"Thank Char" she said, giving him a small smile.

The sat for a few seconds not saying anything and then Charlie wondered how Oakley's parents had reacted to her playing. "What did your parents say?" Charlie said.

Oakley flinched. "What do you mean?"

"About you joining the team. Your dad was on the team when he went here, right?"

"I didn't say anything to them." She said looking down at the ground.

"Oakley!" Charlie explained in disbelief.

"They wouldn't let me play. Grandmama thinks Quidditch isn't 'lady-like' and you know how they would practically bend over backward to please her."

"Wha- wel- If they find out… You are going to get grounded forever!" Charlie sputtered.

"It's already like I'm grounded now. I don't get to do anything I want, can't go anywhere. I might as well do stuff here where they can't control me." Oakley stood up. "I'm going to go wake Merce up. We should head over to the Hospital Wing to get her arm checked one final time."

Charlie stood up as well. "I'm not dropping this yet."

Oakley sighed, "I know. But I really should get Mercy up now."

"Fine. I'll meet you at breakfast. Don't skip it this time." Oakley's unfortunate habit of skipping breakfast wasn't going to be a good idea today. Somehow, he didn't think her having a fainting spell while hundreds of feet in the air would be conducive to her playing.

Oakley smirked and curtsied, "As you wish m'lord."

"Oh, stuff it." He said shaking his head. Oakley crinkled her nose and walked up the stairs. Charlie watched until she disappeared from view. Her parents weren't really so bad. They weren't mean, per say, but they bent at every whim of Oakley's grandmother, trying to ensure Oakley didn't get left out of the inheritance. It was stupid though. If they had any idea what it did to her, maybe they would. He sighed and took his book up to the boys' dorm, where some of the other boys were starting to stir. He then went to the Owlery to send a letter. To his … father. But he really wasn't even sure he could call them that.

With a short whistle, his owl Sagitta drifted down to him from the rafter. He gave her an owl treat and as she consumed it, he tied his letter to her leg. He gently stroked her brown speckled feathers "Give this to… _father…_, but don't wait for a reply this time. I don't want to hear what he has to say." Sagitta hooted in response, and took off out the window. Charlie stared at her disappearing figure with a lump in his throat; he swallowed hard and headed down to the great hall for breakfast.

**Alright, New Chapter headed your way Friday. Be excited. **

**Review if you can find the time! :)**


	20. Chapter 20- Rough Game, Quidditch

**Authors Note-**

**Here it is: The illustrious chapter 20!- So what's new this week? I really have no idea...**

**Well now that I am here, I would like to address some of the reviews that I have gotten of late… and funny enough, they are all from the same person, Miss (or Mr. … I guess I can never really be sure… :P ) **_**Luna the HP fan**_**. It has to do with Charlie and Oakley's trouble at home. Now what kind of a person would I be if I spoiled that for ya? Not telling, mate. My lips are sealed, but if you keep following I promise to explain in the story! **

**As for the reason as to why Charlie and Oakley have trouble at home, like why I wrote it as a part of their back-story. Well I can answer that…because that is part of what shapes them as people, plot convenience, I was bored so I make horrible things happen to my made up people, just because. Take your pick I guess. Hopefully you think better of me to assume it's the third though :P or the last one. I usually have a reason for doing things.**

**Disclaimer- This yahoo *points at self* is not JK Rowling. So Therefore, this weirdo's writing *points at Microsoft Word Document* does not possess the hauntingly beautiful and perfectly polished quality that Ms Rowling's does. Nor does this dweeb *curls up in corner* own the rights to Harry Potter, world or Characters. **

**Now that all that's over with, ON WITH THE STORY!**

Chapter 20- Rough Game, Quidditch.

The Gryffindor team gathered in their locker room after breakfast. Mercy winced as Oakley wrapped her arm in an extra layer of bandages to go over the ones that were carefully placed by Madam Pomfrey. Having secured the permission of the nurse to play, she wasn't taking any chances. Oakley finished wrapping it and helped Mercy slip her arm and wrist guards on. Mercy smiled at her gratefully and looked around at all of her other teammates.

Trina and Justin were whispering back and forth in the corner, both relatively calm. James was sitting quietly, which in and of itself was a bad sign. He had a mischievous look on his face as he looked at Ash, who was a bundle of nerves. Ash's hands were shaking and he kept adjusting and readjusting his wrist guards. Greg was pacing throughout the room with a vacant expression.

Mercy peeked up at Oakley's face. She was as she usually was before high stake situations: unreadable. Mercy had faint butterflies in her stomach, but she figured it had more to do with the Slytherins than the pressure of catching the snitch.

Mercy was called from her thoughts due to a small commotion from across the room. Ash had unstrapped his wrist guard yet again but this time it began to float away. He looked at it alarmed and Mercy heard James's telltale laugh. Trina shot him an evil glare, but the prank seemed to have calmed Ash down a good bit. He stood on a bench and snatched his guard out of the air and began a conversation with James, who began to weave a tale of how he charmed Sirius's quill to fly around during class. Trina watched the events unfold, now with a grin on her face. She cleared her throat.

"Alright team. This is it, the big one. I think we can take 'em."

"I don't want to take them anywhere," James said wryly. Mercy giggled. Oakley punched him in the arm. "Staahp." She said, but it was through a large smile.

"As I was saying," Trina said, firing a challenging look at James, as if daring him to interrupt again. "If you don't listen to anything else I say, I want you to remember this one thing. We win as a team; we lose as a team so we play as a team."

She started pacing back in forth along the front of the room. "I am proud of all the work each of you has put in. I've seen great improvement in our chaser formations. The Slytherin keeper won't know what slipped past him. Our keeper, however, is damn near impenetrable. Combined with our dynamic beaters and our excellent seeker I'm sure this game will go well for us."

She stopped pacing and looked at each of her teammates individually. "Just watch each other's backs; the Slytherins are not going to hold back."

Her eyes lingered on Justin, who tilted his head from side to side to crack his neck. "Alright team, let's move out." The team grabbed their brooms and Ash and Justin, their bats and the marched into the field.

Mercy mounted her broom and kicked off the ground hard. She along with her scarlet clad teammates soared into the air, taking their respective places across from their emerald opponents.

Mercy looked at the boy floating across from her with confusion. She thought the other seeker would be a girl, and faintly wondered what had happened to Destiny Flower. The boy had hair only a little shorter than hers and was straw colored. He looked friendly, but his smile was too reminiscent of Sirius.

Booming over the roaring crowd was the voice of Ruby Mathias, the brunette Hufflepuff who announced the matches. "Welcome everyone to the first Quidditch match of the season, The Gryffindor Lions versus their slithering Slytherin Opponents. Both teams have been prepping for this match for weeks and it's sure to be a good match.

Mercy watched Trina and Emma Vanity, the Slytherin captain, shake hands. But to Mercy it looked to be more of a battle of who could break the other's hand.

Mercy began to drown out Ruby's commentary and instead focused on Madam Hootch. Hootch kicked open the chest containing the snitch, quaffle, and bludgers. Mercy watched as the bludgers zoomed out of the case and the snitch darted out flying straight up right in front of her and the other seeker's face. Mercy tried to follow it with her eyes, but it flew straight into the sun and to her dismay, she lost sight of it within a few seconds.

Madam Hootch mounted her broom, with the quaffle in arm and addressed all the players on the field. "I want a nice, CLEAN, game." Although she was talking to all the players, Emma Vanity got a pointed looked. She looked back innocently but Mercy wasn't buying it. It looked to her like Vanity had something up her sleeve.

Mercy heard the whistle from Madam Hootch, and watched as the quaffle zoomed upward, where it was quickly snatched by James. Mercy shook her head and started looking for the snitch. She flew around, scanning for something shiny.

Charlie was standing next to his roommates in the stands. Somehow, they had meandered their way to the top row of the stands, the best seats. Probably had something to do with Sirius tossing a dungbomb up there the week before. Of course the smell was barely noticeable now, but still no one really wanted to sit there; hence the standing.

The game had gotten off to a good start, the Gryffindors had taken an early lead and Oakley had stopped both of the shots the Slytherins had taken making the score 30-0. Unfortunately, the Slytherins took this as an opportunity to push and shove and play as dirty as they possibly could without provoking the wrath of Madam Hootch.

Charlie saw the Slytherin captain point one of her beaters at Oakley, and he wasn't the only one.

"What's Vanity doing?" Peter asked, looking over at Sirius, who was thoughtful.

"She's not even trying to get the quaffle back." Remus said.

Their question was answered quickly, with the loud crack of the Slytherin beaters bat. A bludger hurtled toward the unsuspecting keeper, who took the hit directly in the stomach. Oakley fell off her broom, but managed to cling to the hoop with one arm.

The Gryffindors in the stands all yelled in protest, there was a swift whistle from Madam Hootch calling the Slytherins on a foul. Trina called a time out. Charlie watched in horror as Oakley clang desperately to the hoop. Justin flew over to her quickly and helped her onto his broom and safely got her to the ground.

Ruby's commentary drifted over the stands. "And Captain Macintosh calls a well-timed time out. Milova looks to be winded, but alright. There will be a penalty shot for the Gryffindors because an unprovoked attack on the keeper when the quaffle was well out of shooting range. We shall see what happens next."

Charlie peered down at the cluster of Gryffindors on the field. Trina was talking to the team, Oakley was massaging her stomach, and Mercy was plainly only half listening as she had her back to the group looking around the field.

Madam Hootch blew her whistle and the team took off in the air, regaining their positions on the field. James rose to the air to take the penalty shot and sank it easily past the keeper. Charlie watched in disbelief as Oakley took her place in front of the hoops.

"She's still going," Pete said, and Sirius nodded.

"Of course she is, Milova's not going to sit out after all that. We wouldn't hear the end of it." Sirius said.

Charlie looked at her, remembering their conversation that morning. Trust her judgment, huh? He swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat, and he instead focused on Mercy. Mercy was darting above the pitch, looking for that elusive snitch with newfound urgency.

The game progressed for another hour or so, and the Gryffindor chasers were dominating play. The score had now become 110- 0. The Slytherins hadn't managed to hold onto the quaffle for long enough to get into scoring range because of Trina's uncanny ability to swipe the maroon ball out of their possession. Oakley was shutting out the few shots that came from the green team.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, one of the Slytherin beaters swooped toward Oakley. She had just caught a tricky shot from Vanity and was looking downfield to dropkick it to James, when again a bludger came hurtling. With a sickening thud, the bludger struck Oakley's shoulder. She yelled as she dropped the quaffle, where another Slytherin caught it and swiftly tossed it into an unguarded ring.

Charlie groaned, but Oakley shook off Trina, probably insisting she would be fine. Remus began talking hurriedly. "Hey, guys look at the seekers."

The boys looked at Mercy and the Slytherin seeker who had both taken into a steep dive. They were shoulder to shoulder, bumping and pushing each other's elbows, and both pulled out of the dive barely avoiding crashing into the ground.

"The snitch has been spotted! Both seekers have caught on and the chase has begun!" Ruby shouted. The cheering in the pitch had given way to an eerie silence as the crowd followed the seekers. Charlie watched them swoop and hurtle around the Slytherin hoops, Mercy ducked under a bludger but the Slytherin seeker wasn't as lucky having to swerve away to dodge it. Mercy had taken a small lead and hurtled upwards with the golden snitch spinning on a dime and with a quick grab, snatched it right out of the air.

"Baines got the snitch, Gryffindor wins 260- 10!" Ruby shouted over the screams and yells of the Gryffindor side of the field and boos of the Slytherins. The Gryffindors swooped together into a group huddle around Mercy and they drifted in a scarlet horde to the ground. Charlie yelled alongside his roommates, but slowly stopped yelling as an unusual sight caught his eye. The Slytherin seeker approached Mercy, and they began to talk. Which Charlie found odd, didn't he just lose the match?

There was a shout down the pitch, and a bludger came hurtling toward the players gathered on the field. It came hurtling too fast for anyone to react properly, its chosen target: Mercy. Justin ran after it but he didn't get to her in time. Right before it hit her; the Slytherin seeker pushed Mercy aside and took a bludger to the head.

**Please, please, PLEASE! If you have time, shoot me a Review! they are exceedingly helpful :)**


	21. Chapter 21- Sure You Can Handle It?

**Author's Note**

**Hello Faithful Readers! I know I am usually better at updating early but I had a late night involving baking, chipping caramel of a pot, finding dragonballs to save the real life Destiny Flowers and I had to find my keys and wallet (which is pretty much my life right now). By the grace of the big man upstairs, it was found and I was able to actually go home... albeit like 2:30 in the morning. So I'm cutting myself some slack.  
**

**Disclaimer- Still Not JK Rowling, So I still don't own Harry, His Parents their school chums, their world, or their problems. **

**On With the Story**

Chapter 21-

Mercy lay on the ground in shock; it felt like her arm had ripped open. Her vision was blurred for a moment with tears but she blinked several times until they cleared again. She made out a green figure on the ground, holding his head. It was the Slytherin she had just met, Blake's friend Dez Flowers.

Oakley crouched next to her. "Merce, hey Mercy are you alright?" She asked urgently, Mercy pushed herself up, and rubbed at one of her eyes but only grunted in response. She instead, focused her attention on Dez, who grinned cheekily at her.

"Rough game Quidditch, eh?" He slurred, and Mercy rolled her eyes and smirked back.

"Sure you can handle it?" She said as she smiled playfully. But her smile slipped off her face as quickly as it came. Her arm felt warm, and there she felt a dull throb. She whispered to Oakley, "It reopened, I should go."

Oakley nodded, and addressed Dez, "What say you to a trip to the Hospital Wing to get some ice, good sir knight?"

He started to shake his head to refuse, but a grumpy Madam Hootch shot him an evil glare and he rolled his eyes. "Not much of a choice, here."

Oakley, Merce, and Dez made their way from the pitch to the hospital wing, where the Madam Pomfrey greeted them with her usual look of disapproval and had all three sit down in a row of chairs. After listening to Mercy, Oakley, and Dez, she forced an ice pack on Oakley's shoulder and told Dez to lay down on one of the beds. Dez tried to protest, but after receiving an evil glare he rolled his eyes and compromised by sitting on the bed. She then began to take the wrap off Mercy's arm which was slowly beginning to seep blood through the excessive amount of gauze.

Mercy could feel Dez's gaze, and made brief eye contact with him. She tried to give him a smile but it turned into an exasperated grin. He made a face back.

Mercy cringed despite Madam Pomfrey's gentle touch and winced again as the dittany sewed her arm together again. The cut looked better, nearly as good as it did that morning, bet she still got reprimanded by Madam Pomfrey.

"What did I tell you to do, Miss Baines? You were to come to me immediately if it opened again." Many students would sweat under the death stare of Madam Pomfrey but Mercy was remarkably calm, though slightly uncomfortable.

"Ma'am, I came to you as soon as I could after it happened, I promise. I was fine until that bludger after the match decided to come after me." She said meekly.

Madam Pomfrey tsked, but didn't push the matter further. She moved on to Oakley, checking her shoulder and told her it would simply bruise.

"More like bruise her ego," Mercy muttered, extracting a grin from Oakley. Oakley was told she was free to go, but she said she'd wait for Mercy.

The matron then moved on to Dez who had developed a lump on the side of his head and a large headache. Madam Pomfrey, however, declared he showed no other obvious signs of concussion. She told him to take it easy for a while and asked him to stay put, to which he grudgingly agreed. He lay down on the bed and stared broodingly at the ceiling.

Madam Pomfrey wrapped Mercy's arm in gauze again. As she did so she said, "Miss Baines, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stay off of brooms until your arm is no longer at risk. And I mean fully healed."

Mercy's mouth opened in protest, "But I have Quid-" she began, but the matron's face effectively cut her off. She grumbled under her breath as she was given permission to leave.

At the door there was a light knock and Blake stepped into view still decked out in red from the match.

"Yes dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she entered the wing.

"I just stopped by to check on these three," She said as she walked over to Dez's bed and where Mercy and Oakley were seated.

"Miss Baines and Miss Milova can leave, but you may keep Mr. Flower company, provided he doesn't object." Madam Pomfrey said.

But Dez didn't, exhibited in how his face lit up when Blake took an unoccupied chair next to him. Mercy and Oakley rose to their feet and stood opposite Dez and Blake.

"Good match you two." Blake said.

"Thanks Blake. We have to go meet Charlie soon, otherwise we would definitely stay and chat," Mercy said. She hoped that he wasn't too worried about them. He had probably been pulling his hair out every time Oakley took those bludgers.

"Why did you play with your arm like that?" Dez asked, looking to Mercy. Mercy glanced over to Blake who rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"I dunno. I just… well, wanted to play. And besides, we didn't really have time to break in a reserve." She said.

Dez shook his head. "You know, you could've made yourself worse. Even if your team needed you, they also need you in top shape; which means you ought to not put yourself into a worse position."

Mercy kitted her brow. "I suppose that's true, but we might have lost the match." She said.

"Well, it's only a game after all." He said, closing his eyes.

"Why did you…" Mercy began, but stopped. Dez opened one of his eyes.

"Why'd I what?" He said, somewhat suspiciously.

"I dunno, push me. Why didn't you get yourself out of the way?" Mercy asked uncomfortably. The second she had said it, she regretted asking.

"Are you mad or something?" Dez asked. Mercy shook her head hurriedly.

"No no, I just…" She struggled to find words that wouldn't be taking the wrong way.

"You were just wondering why I bothered, huh?" He said.

"That's not exactly…" She trailed off. Well, it was her question… she just didn't want to phrase it like that.

Dez looked at her nonplussed. "Well I couldn't exactly just stand there and watch you take a bludger to the head. What kind of a person do you think I am?"

Mercy looked down. She hardly knew this guy. And he was a Slytherin… but maybe she put too much stock into the house stereotypes. "I know, I just feel bad, that's all." She and Dez were quiet. Oakley looked uncomfortable but Blake appeared to be holding back a smile. Mercy couldn't figure out what was so funny, but then she remembered something. "I never actually said thank you, did I?" She said.

"Don't worry about it." Dez said, grinning crookedly. Mercy smiled back.

Oakley cleared her throat. "We really ought to go; it was nice to meet you." She said, inclining her head slightly to Dez, who nodded in response closing his eyes again.

"I'll see ya later, in the dorm." Blake said.

Mercy and Oakley left the wing, heading first to their dorms to change, dodging their overly excited housemates who were quick to congratulate them.

Mercy was suddenly feeling like dragging her feet and collapsing in bed. She was no longer in the mood to face whatever problems Charlie was having at home.

But she had to. She had promised after all. She just wished she wasn't so fucking tired… She and Oakley left the common room, dodging the beginnings of what looked like it would be a party. Mercy was not feeling it though… sleep was beckoning stronger than the allure of a good Gryffindor celebration.

Mercy stopped walking abruptly. "Holy shit Oakley! It's Saturday!" She yelled. Oh Merlin, why!?

Oakley stopped and turned to look at her. "It's been Saturday all day. And you might not want to be shouting profanities in the corridor."

"That means tomorrow is Sunday!" She said running her hands through her hair worriedly.

"I'm glad you have figured out how weekends work. Took you long enough." Mercy wasn't amused by the sarcasm in Oakley's voice.

"Oakley I might have a date tomorrow!" Her stomach boiled up with more butterflies than it did before the Quidditch match.

"Wha d'ya mean _might_? Do you or don't you?" Oakley asked.

"Well he…" She started but Oakley cut over her.

"He is Remus, right?" Oakley asked.

"Yes. But we are supposed to meet up after lunch tomorrow. I wanted to ask you if that meant this is a date or just hanging out kind of thing. But I don't know what to wear and- and what to say..." Mercy spilled, barely taking time to breathe.

"Mercy calm down. This isn't that big of a deal." Oakley had a baffled expression on her face, but Mercy didn't think she was taking this seriously enough.

"This is a HUGE DEAL!" Mercy screeched.

"Calm down Miss Pterodactyl. You've jumped off a broom to catch a shiny flying ball, no problem. But heaven forbid you go out and talk to a boy." Oakley said shaking her head. "We'll go take care of Charlie but after that is done, we can deal with this."

Mercy took a deep breathe. "Sorry. I just entered full on panic mode."

"One thing at a time. Come on, we really ought to get to the Garden. Char is waiting." Oakley said, and they hurried off down the Staircases.

**Alright, You know the drill at this point. This is where I ask for reviews and most of you just overlook this request... So here is a special thank you for those who have shot me a review, you guys are HEROES. You're my incentive to keep writing and even though I'm really really busy, I will keep updating as promised ;)**


	22. Chapter 22- Could Things Get any Worse?

**Author's Note**

**Sorry, I had a paper due today and I couldn't edit this chapter as much as I wanted to, but I decided to update on time for you guys. **

**Disclaimer- I am not JK Rowling. I don't own Harry Potter, World or weirdness, yada yada yada. **

Chapter 23- Could Things get Anything Worse?

Mercy and Oakley ran down the corridor to the tapestry and entered the garden. Just like they thought, Charlie was already there. It was quiet, save the trickling sound of water; Oakley and Mercy walked over and sat next to Charlie on the edge of the fountain.

"How are you doing?" Charlie asked but Oakley saw the corner of his mouth twitch. Of course he'd been watching the match so he probably worried.

"We're fine, but Merce isn't allowed to fly until her arm heals." Oakley attempted to silence any concerns he had because they were here for him after all. Charlie's expression remained neutral but Oakley could see a definite flicker of relief go through his eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay. You took a pummeling today, Oaks." He said.

Oakley shrugged. It had hurt at first but the pain had long since ebbed away. "It's part of the job I suppose. At least the worst of it is done. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are nearly as aggressive." She put her hand on her shoulder and rotated it. It was stiff but not painful.

Mercy nodded. "Anyway what's going on?" She asked, looking at Charlie. Oakley rolled her eyes. Mercy's tact could use some work today. She knew Merce was tired but there was no use rushing him. But to her surprise, Charlie immediately reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment, putting it in her hand.

"It's kind of hard to explain, but you should read this first." He said. Oakley studied his face. Whatever this was must be really bothering him, because he wasn't usually so quick to tell them what is going on. It usually takes some patience and lot of prodding. He swallowed with difficulty and stared at the ground as Mercy and Oakley pored over the crumbled paper Charlie had given them.

Over Mercy's shoulder silently. She flicked her eyes to the bottom of the parchment. Charlie's dad had signed his name at the bottom. The letter was short and businesslike. Mr. Amber had gotten straight to the point and didn't waste time with pleasantries for this truly unpleasant news.

Oakley looked over at Mercy who was still reading but her eyes were wide. She looked over at Charlie. "Oh Charlie… I'm so sorry." Mercy said softly.

Oakley shook her head. "How long ago did you get this?" She looked at Charlie.

He shifted his position but didn't look up, "I got while I was waiting for you guys to get out of Quidditch to work on our Transfiguration… the day you guys got in the fight with Montgomery."

"So were you mad because we stood you up, or because of the letter?" Mercy said.

"Or both. People can be mad for more than one reason Merce." Oakley said. For some reason, Mercy was just rubbing her the wrong way today. _I'm probably just tired. _She thought.

Charlie stood up and paced a bit rubbing his hand across his mouth. "I was just so angry and then Justin comes upstairs to the common room and says you had to go to the Hospital wing because Mercy was bleeding all over the place."

"Charlie, why didn't you just say something?" Mercy said. "It would have made this who thing a lot simpler."

"I dunno." Charlie stopped moving and his eyes focused on a tree. "For some reason I just couldn't… I wanted to…but…"

Mercy and Oakley looked at each other, Mercy began rubbing her hands across her jeans. "Char, do you… do you know what happened?" Oakley asked uncomfortably.

Charlie pacing again. "Mum loves magic, it makes some things a little easier on her, but I don't think Dad's ever really loved her. He only married her because he got her pregnant. But he yells at her for no reason, stuff that isn't even her fault. " His voice shook with anger.

"Charlie, sometimes these things just don't work out. I mean people rush into marriages all the time. " Oakley said, carefully.

Charlie glared at her but Oakley continued talking. "People sometimes just feel like they don't have anything in common anymore."

Charlie snapped. "He thinks they don't have anything in common huh? Well then what the hell am I!?" He roared, kicking over a flower pot, scattering dirt around the fountain.

Mercy flinched and her eyes watered. She stared at the ground.

"He kicked her out! He fucking kicked her out because she wasn't a Pureblood. It's just… It's just. It's so fucking screwed up!"

Charlie let out a yell, and kicked the fountain. "How could he do something like this!?"

Charlie stopped moving and his breathe slowed. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." He whispered sitting down on the ledge.

Mercy moved next to Charlie and grabbed one of his hands. Oakley looked at his eyes, taking in the unmistakable hurt, and could see Mercy's eyes fill up with tears. "Charlie." She said her voice breaking. A tear ran down her face, and she held her breathe to try to stop herself from bawling.

Oakley sat on his other side, but she couldn't think of anything to say, Mercy appeared equally lost for words.

Charlie looked up at the sky. "Dad wants me to join the death eaters." He mumbled quickly; so fast Oakley wasn't sure if she heard him right. She looked over to Mercy who seemed to have heard the same thing: shocked and unsure. It was as if she had been smacked.

Oakley blanched. "He wants you to… what?" she looked at the letter again.

"Join the death eaters. I don't know what the hell he's thinking." Charlie said, resignedly. Mercy let go of his hand and pulled her shaky hand to her mouth.

Oakley was furious. "When did he tell you this? It's not in his letter." She said, thrusting it in his hand.

Charlie sighed and pulled out another letter, putting into her outstretched hand. "I got a letter at breakfast but I waited until after the match to read it. This is probably why he kicked out mum. He knew he couldn't exactly have a muggle wife if he was going to join You-Know-Who."

"But how could he do this? The Death Eaters are nothing but a group of horrible bullies. Trying to force Muggles and Muggleborns into some sort of whack servitude." Mercy said.

Charlie looked over at her. "I told you, I don't know what the hell he was thinking." Mercy looked away. Oakley was baffled and angry. Even her parents thought that blood purity ideology was outdated. Though now that she thought about it, her Grandmother… _would my parents join the Death eaters to appease Grandma-ma? _ Well shit, that was one thing not to say out loud. Hopefully that wouldn't be a problem.

"You know I would never, ever join him. Never." Charlie said imploringly, looking at Mercy worriedly.

"I…" She tried to. She stood up. "I'm sorry Char, I know that. But I have to…" She ran out of the garden.

"Merce, Wait! W-" He said, starting after her. Oakley grabbed his arm.

"Charlie, it's okay. Let her go, she a needs a bit to sort this all out." Oakley said. Charlie looked at Oakley frantically.

"She does know I never, ever would even consider joining!? Right!?… I mean, she's my best friend and it is horrible to go attack people for things they can't control." His words came in a jumble. "I can't even believe that he could possibly believe I would even consider…"

"Charlie, you are absolutely fine. This is just a horrible thing for anyone to try to shove onto an adult let alone a teenager." Oakley said, trying to soothe him. "Mercy knows this isn't your fault but I guess this just brought stuff into startling reality. She has been exposed to the muggleborn stereotypes since she's been here. Like that whole thing with Montgomery."

Charlie sat down at the fountain and put his face in his hands. Oakley was shocked to see him start sobbing. She sat next to him and put her arms around him. He shifted and hugged her back with his face buried in her shoulder. While Oakley wanted to make sure Mercy was okay, but it looked like Charlie need her more.

_Everything just fell to shit all at once. Merlin, could things get any more messed up? _

**Authors Note-**

**Why yes Oakley, things can get worse… But I'll be nice…**

**Review Please, I'm sorry this chapter got a little long…**


	23. Chapter 23- It's Not What You Think?

**Author's Note**

**Disclaimer- **Puh-lease. I ain't J.K. Rowling. None of this stuff is mine (save mah OC and excessive plot weirdness.**P**

**So Onward with the Story - **

**Chapter 23- It's Not What You Think****?**

Oakley sat in the common room for ten minutes with an extraordinarily antsy Mercy, who immediately put on a calm face when Remus entered the room. _Typical_, Oakley thought as the two left the room. Oakley tried to think of some decent thing to occupy herself. Charlie insisted on studying, again. Honestly sometimes that boy was too responsible for his own good. Well, she certainly wasn't going to waste her day.

Oakley shifted grumpily in the squashy arm chair she had settled in. What _was_ she going to do then? She was getting too dependent on Mercy; couldn't think of a single thing she could do by herself. At home, when her parents would finally leave her alone she would just go fly. But the day was looking gloomy and she didn't want to get caught in the rain today; it was too cold for that. Oakley twisted and allowed her legs to drape over one of the arms and rested her neck on the other gazing at the ceiling.

Slinging her arm over her eyes, she muttered 'bored…' under her breath.

"What was that blasphemy, Milova?" said someone off to her side. Oakley lifted her arm up a few inches and opened one of her eyes. Sirius was sitting in a chair near her, holding… a book?

"Black? That's not a book in your hand, is it? I didn't know you could read."

Sirius looked at the object in question and looking at her in mock shame said, "It's not what you think!"

Oakley grinned. "So where's your better half? Off fawning over a certain Miss Evans?"

"I resent that! I am clearly the better half!" He said, running his hand through his sexy black ha-… _Holy Shit, What… Sexy!?_ MIND WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? Oakley thought angrily. "…besides, James has better things to do." He continued, hopefully not noticing the inner battle of horror Oakley was trying to suppress from traveling to her face.

Oakley rolled her eyes, "Riiiiiiight. So what's he actually doing?"

"Polishing the Trophy Closet because he glued Avery's shoes to the floor during class." Sirius said simply.

Typical James shenanigans. "Arguably, I'd say James would choose my suggestion any day." Oakley said. She looked at Sirius and tried to assess what had caused her brain to malfunction so severely. But another voice in her head said _damn, he's hot. _

_Hey, Bitch! You've known him for years. THIS IS NOT NEW INFORMATION! _Oakley thought desperately. But the other voice said, _yeah, but mmmmmmm._

_STAWP! _Oakley thought desperately.

"Anyway, enough about James. What is this 'Bored' nonsense?" Sirius said, cutting into Oakley's thoughts.

The other voice cut through again. _He's sooooooo…._

_NO! I'm just bored… that's all. GIVE MIND SOMETHING DO. _Oakley thought. _Bored. Bored. Bored…_

"BORED!" Oakley shouted, drawing both curious and annoyed looks in her direction from some of her housemates. She jumped up and ran out the portrait hole.

_Something. Do Something? Charlie's in the library, Bother him? Naw… he's just trying to distract himself from his dad… and Mercy. Leave him… _

_Sod it all… I'm just going to go creep on Mercy._ She thought…immediately a smile curled up on her lips. _Oakley Milova, Stunningly Beautiful Super Spy Extraordinaire… Maybe I should rethink that title…_

Taking some of the back corridors, Oakley managed to sprint her way to the Entrance hall in five minutes.

Oakley grinned as she peered through a window at Mercy and Remus out on the grounds. _Lovebirds are taking their time, aren't they_?

Oakley waited a few minutes; she didn't want Remus nor Mercy to know she was following. Firstly, it would probably creep Remus out… But Mercy would be downright murderous. _Alright, follow them in three, two…_

"So this is your idea of not bored?" Sirius said, materializing beside her.

Oakley flinched, and grinned goofily at her startle reflex. At least hers wasn't as bad as Mercy's otherwise, she would have probably yelped and punched him in the face. "It's not what you think?" She said in unconvincing mock defense.

"No, you are definitely not stalking your best friend like you have nothing better to do."

"Do you have any better ideas?" She said sarcastically.

"Not really…" he said, while shoving his hands in his pockets. "So, I'm in. Do you have a plan?" Oakley looked at him in surprise. _Well this is an interesting development. _

"Really? I mean… yeah, sure you can tag along" She said playfully. "Here's what I was thinking..."

**BONUS Segment (Aren't you lucky?)**

Mercy's face hurt from smiling so much. For some reason, she just couldn't stop. After everything that had happened recently, she hadn't been feeling like herself.

Remus and Mercy had meandered their way down the twisted path to the lake. It was a beautiful view, but not as stunning as it could have been due to the weather.

Mercy plopped down on the grass and Remus took a seat next to her. "Let's play a game." Mercy said.

"What do you have in mind?" He asked.

Mercy thought for a second. "Would you rather!" She said. Remus looked over at her. It almost looked like he expected her to continue.

After a moment he said, "Would I rather what?"

Mercy laughed, "It's a game! I can't believe you've never heard that before! Here I'll start. Would you rather eat a piece of cockroach cluster or take a lick of a blood flavored lollypop?"

Remus grinned. "Oh, this game. I know this one…Sirius is rather fond of it, though this is not typically the kind of question he asks." Mercy smirked. Seriously, her mouth hurt so much…

"Oh…So this is what you guys do. I'm strangely curious. But I'm not sure I want to know. " She said,

"It would be ungentlemanly of me to elaborate. And I'm going to have to go with the blood flavored lollypop."

"Gentlemen. I almost forget what you guys look like." Mercy said.

Remus smiled. Remus had a great smile. "You know, this is nice." he said.

"What's that?" She asked. "The game?"

"No, just talking. I like talking to you." He was so casual about it, but despite this Mercy blushed.

_Come on! Hold yourself together. _She said trying to calm herself down. "Well that's convenient."

"Why's that?" He took her bait.

"I like talking to you too." She said, grinning cheekily. She put her hand on top of his.

Remus flipped his hand over, grasped hers. The gesture shot goosebumps up Mercy's arms. "Alright, it's my turn. Would you rather be able to travel to the bottom of the ocean or explore space?"

"Oooooh… that's a hard one." She bit her lip. "I'm going to say… the ocean."

They went on like that for a while, questions ranging from would you rather read minds or bend them, transform into a spider or a snake, and Mercy's gem, "would you rather sneeze buttons or slugs?"

The last was met with gales of laughter and a bout of silence.

"I've got another" Remus said. "Would you rather spend a month with someone you absolutely despise or a month with a werewolf?" An odd question really, Mercy thought as she considered. She pulled her hand from Remus's and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"Is this assuming I can defend myself against the werewolf? Or is it up to chance on whether or not I'd get bitten?" She asked.

"Does it matter?" He shot back. Mercy shrugged. "Not really I guess..." She cast her mind back to everything she had learned about werewolves the previous year. "cause, werewolves are just regular people most of the time right? They just go through a rough patch at the full moon huh?" Remus wasn't really giving her much response. In fact he was staring up at the sky, which was starting to darken ominously. Mercy sighed as she thought some more. The werewolf would be slightly terrifying to be around if he or she was trying to kill her, but the thought of spending a month with Nadine Montgomery or someone remotely like her was distasteful. "Well, it seems to me that my best bet would be the werewolf, I guess."

"Wh… Why?" Remus said curiously. He looked at her intently and immediately for some reason Mercy saw a flicker of something she didn't recognize on his face.

"Honestly I'd rather take the risk that the werewolf is a likable person when he or she isn't transformed than spend the month angry and frustrated…Werewolves are people too! Even if they try to take a chunk out of you once a month… I know that doesn't seem like an intelligent decision, but hey, I walk on the wild side." She said with a grin. Remus's face was unreadable. "Hey, it's just a game. It's not like I actually have to decide, you know?"

Remus nodded. "Just a game." He stood up. Mercy noticed a glint in his eyes, and vaguely wondered what that was about. "It looks like it's going to rain, and as much as I like tracking mud through the corridors, I've seen more of Filch's quarters this semester than I'd like my mum to know." He said, offering Mercy his hand. Mercy took it and got up. She felt a drop of water hit her in the face.

"Here it comes!" Mercy said, tugging on Remus's hand pulling him toward the castle. Running up the path was hard work, and for once Mercy was grateful for the amount of running Trina was forcing upon them at Quidditch practice.

Unfortunately, they were hardly halfway there before it began pouring and within seconds, they were both soaked. _It's so cold; we should have headed in sooner. _

Remus and Mercy slid into the Entrance hall, and the blast of air from the castle caused Mercy to begin shivering. _Well this is cute,_ she thought. "We should probably try to dry off here a little before tracking water all over the school." She said, teeth chattering.

Remus looked over in concern, and wrapped his arm around her. Immediately, Mercy felt a wave of heat course through her body, but it had little to do with body warmth; the goose bumps rose on her arms at how close she and Remus were. She hoped her face didn't flush.

"Thanks." She said. And he smiled. _Whenever I see him smile it feels like everything that I worry about is sill_y, Mercy thought.

When they deemed they were dry enough to move and checked to make sure that they weren't leaving a trail of muddy footprints behind them, they walked through some quiet corridors.

"I used to love running around in the rain with Jem, Kenda, and Blaze when I was a kid. But it was generally during warm summer showers." She said.

"Well, today doesn't seem to be a great day for that. I wish I could remember what the spell was for drying clothes." He said thoughtfully.

"Well, don't ask me. My charms knowledge is painfully limited." She sighed. _Clothes drying charm… _"When did you pick that up anyway?"

"I remember using it last year," was his slightly cryptic response.

"What for?" Mercy vaguely remembered an incident in the great hall where the ceiling refused to stop raining during the Halloween feast.

"That information is classified. If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Oh please! I'd like to see you try!" She said with a laugh.

"Mercy," She looked up and met his eyes.

"Yeah?"

He took a deep breath. "I had a lot of fun today… and I just was wondering if you thought that maybe we could be more than friends."

_Whoa… oh shit. _She thought frantically. _Calm, stay calm. YES! OF COURSE, _A particularly loud part of her brain shouted. "I would like that." She said, biting the inside of her cheek.

Remus looked over the moon. "May I take you on a proper date, Miss Baines?"

"I'd be delighted." she said.

"Great!" He said. "I was actually… kind of afraid to ask you."

"I was sort of afraid to ask too, to be honest." Mercy said. "Cause I was afraid you didn't feel the same way you know? And then everything would be awkward…" She said, nervously linking her index fingers. It was true. Oakley had complained that Mercy was over thinking the matter, and she should just make the first move. Cause Remus seemed to be almost too shy to do it. _Boy will Oaks be surprised. _

Mercy and Remus got to the portrait hole.

"I think I ought to change. I'm still cold." Mercy said.

Remus nodded, "I don't want you to get sick." He stuck his arms out, and Mercy moved in for a hug. It just felt right to her. Remus wasn't a terribly built person but his arms felt warm and comforting. Mercy looked up and met his gaze.

There was a ruffling behind them and they broke apart hearing the sound of a sneaker squeak and what sounded to be a stifled giggle just beyond the corner. Mercy held a finger to her lips and walked over to the wall. She slowly crept over and suddenly Oakley's head popped around the corner.

Mercy whacked her. "What are you doing!?"

Oakley shot her a sheepish grin, and her famous puppy dog eye look. "It's not what you think?" Mercy looked around the corner to see Sirius standing there, at least with the decency to look apologetic.

"You are such a creeper!" She said, but for some reason she grinned back. Mercy turned to Remus. "I'll leave Sirius to you, then?"

"I dunno, there might not be anything left of him when I am done." Remus said. He clearly wasn't as amused as she was. Mercy walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"See ya later, Remus. Come on Oaks." She said, and turned and walked to the common room trying to cover up the huge blush and accompanied smile that had blossomed on her cheeks.

_**R&amp;R if you like!**_


	24. Chapter 24- Royally Pissed Off

**Authors Note-**

**Sorry it takes so long for me update. College is Insane!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter, The world or the Characters**

Chapter 24- Royally Pissed-Off

"Run Merce! We are going to be late!" Oakley called behind her. Mercy's face was flushed red as she tried to keep up. Oakley rolled her eyes. _This is what I get for trying to wait for her._ She thought with a sigh.

They sprinted across and intersection of the corridor. _'We are going to make it' _Oakley thought gleefully, but no longer heard Mercy's footsteps behind her. '_Oh Goddammit, Mercy!' _She paused and turned around. Mercy had stopped at the intersection and was gazing down the other hallway in horror.

Oakley walked back over to her. Down the hallway was a Hufflepuff student hastily trying to gather up her papers while a brown haired Slytherin boy kicked her bag away. "What the fuck are you doing!?" Mercy yelled, dropping her bag in the middle of the hallway and marched right up to him.

"Merce!" Oakley whispered forcefully, but it had no effect. _'For fuck's sake!' _She shook her head. _'Why can she think about anything before she waltzes in?' _Rolling her eyes, she went and stood next to Mercy.

'_We don't have time for this shit'_ Oakley kept checking her watch, at this rate they would arrive more than ten minutes after class started.

"Well?" Mercy crossed her arms. The other boy dwarfed her considerably but for some reason, he looked slightly intimidated. Oakley glanced over at the Hufflepuff, who was staring up at Mercy in confusion. Oakley recognized her from their Charms class. One of them had short black hair, a round face, and glasses over a pair of brown eyes. _It started with a K, maybe? _Oakley vaguely tried to remember their names.

_Karina That's it. _She affirmed, remembering an incident last year when she had been doodling on her notes, and Professor McGonagall had docked 5 points from Hufflepuff.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you." The Slytherin boy said, and Oakley heard an angry sound from Mercy, who had moved her hands to her hips and looked ready to punch him in the face.

"Don't you have something better to do?" Mercy huffed.

"This arsehole isn't worth it," said Karina. Mercy made eye contact and frowned. She stooped over to help her gather her things.

"What is going on here, Mr. Rosier?" Oakley groaned as Lucius Malfoy joined the group in the hallway.

"This girl must have tripped." Rosier said, with a smile on his face. Karina, having put all her things back in her bag, glared over at him.

"He tripped me and kicked my bag." She said. "And he called me a Mudblood." Oakley winced and glanced at Mercy who looked livid.

"Well, go about your way." Malfoy said, turning and walking down the hallway. Rosier followed snickering.

"You're not going to do anything? Are you a prefect or not!?" Mercy yelled indignantly.

Malfoy turned and sneered at her. "I didn't see anything. You better get to class." Mercy was slowly reaching for her wand, but Oakley grabbed her arm.

"They aren't worth it. And we are so late." She said, handing Mercy her bag. Mercy tsked.

"Well, let's go then." She muttered, through gritted teeth. Oakley nodded and she, Kat, and Mercy turned into the Charms Corridor. They reached the door within a few minutes.

Taking a deep breathe, Oakley opened the door. '_Please don't turn around. Nothing to see here. Of fucking course' _Every single eye in the classroom whipped around to gawk at them as they came in. Oakley sighed and she and Mercy slipped into an empty desk in the back of the classroom.

Karina took a seat next to a Hufflepuff named Jess, a girl who Oakley remembered because her hair was usually a different color every time she saw her. Today it was white, falling carefully on her well defined cheekbones, and covering one of her startling blue eyes.

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat loudly, but did not admonish them and continued his lesson in his squeaky voice. Oakley quietly pulled out some parchment and a quill and began hurriedly writing down what was written on the board. Something about banishing Charms… it was difficult to read form back here. _'I'll just steal Charlie's notes.'_ She glanced over at Mercy, whose mouth was still contorted in a thin line. '_She is royally pissed-off' _

She scribbled a note on her parchment. **Merce, he's an arse but you can't let it ruin your day. **She slid it over to Mercy's side of the desk.

Mercy looked down and her eyes darted over the writing. She picked up her quill with gritted teeth and scribbled out a few sentences. She shoved the paper back over to Oakley and put her head down on her crossed arms.

Oakley read over what Mercy had written. _This guy is not just some arse. He is a fucking prejudiced, bullying dickhead. I am so mad right now I can hardly stand it. I don't even want to write right now. Just leave it._

Oakley sighed. _'there's no point trying to change her mind now. I'll talk to her after class.' _She thought as she attempted to pay attention to what Flitwick for the duration of the class, which felt as though it dragged on for an eternity.


	25. Chapter 25- Nightmares

**Author's Note**

**Hullo Chaps! Hey, I actually posted a new one. Be proud. **

**Disclaimer: **I do not have any of the Rights to the Harry Potter Series, nor any of the characters, places, or circumstances involved.

**Chapter 25- Nightmares**

Charlie looked impatiently at his watch. _She should have been here by now…probably held up by Oaks._ He thought with a sigh. _They couldn't stay out of trouble if they tried. _

He decided to start work on his potions essay, and opened his book to the part on Girding Potions.

"Charlie?" He heard a light whisper from somewhere to his right. He looked up, expecting to see Mercy, but instead saw the slim figure of Rachel, a Gryffindor girl that he sat next to in Transfiguration and Charms.

"Evening, Rachel." He whispered back with a smile. She flipped her long brown hair out of her face and pointed up to a high shelf above her.

"I'm trying to get that book, but I'm too short." She wrinkled her nose sheepishly. "Can you help me out?"

Charlie stood up. "Yes, of course! Which one was it?"

She pointed again, and whispered "That big red one, with the gold binding."

Charlie stood on his toes, grasped the book, and pulled it down. He glanced at the title as he gave it to her.

"Thank you."

"_Transformation Through the Ages?_ What are you reading about?" He asked.

She hesitated, letting out a puff of air before she spoke. "I'm only looking at a few chapters, the ones about animagi. I was really curious about it first year and tried looking it up in here, but it was too complicated for me… back then."

"Huh. Animagi are pretty interesting, but McGonagall said the magic is really complicated." He said glancing again at his watch, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Rachel leaned her shoulder on the bookcase as she said, "Oh I think they are fascinating. I'd like to work out how to do it someday." Charlie looked at his watch again, and glanced around the library. "Are you looking for someone?" She added.

"Erm, yeah. Mercy was supposed to meet me…" He trailed off. He shoved his hand back into his pocket in an attempt to get himself to stop nervously checking the time.

She cocked her head off to the side. "Huh… That's odd…" She said.

"What?"

She wrinkled her nose again. "Well I actually passed her and Oakley on the way here. She was on her way."

Charlie furrowed his brow. "Really…" _Wonder what happened… maybe she's avoiding me?_

He felt Rachel brush his elbow lightly with her hand. "Oh, Don't worry. She'll probably be here soon." Charlie shrugged.

"Well I'm going to keep working on my potions essay…" he said, walking back to his chair.

She smacked her forehead with her hand. "Merlin! The one on Girding Potions!? I forgot! Mine is due tomorrow!"

Charlie looked over at her. "You know, if you want you and I could work on it now." He said. _Even if Merce doesn't show, Rachel and I can work through it. _

"Mmmm. Yes, I think I should. No us putting it off till later this evening." She placed her book on the table and sat down perpendicular to Charlie. Charlie smiled as they set off to work, but the whole time he couldn't help but wonder where Mercy was

888

Charlie wandered up to his dorm room, having spent all evening in the library with Rachel. They had managed to finish their essays, but Mercy never showed. _Merlin I'm tired._ He dropped his bag on the floor next to his trunk and stripped of his uniform, leaving himself in his undershirt and boxers. He proceeded to collapse on the maroon sheets of his four-poster, tugging the curtains around his bed shut and burrito-ing himself in his duvet. The room was quiet for now, which was unusual considering its usual occupants. Charlie feebly wished them to stay out, just long enough for him to get to sleep.

He closed his eyes, sinking into the warmth and trying to lose the world for a while. Charlie's body felt like lead, but he was so comfortable that he wouldn't move a muscle, afraid that if he did, he would lose the warmth and comfort he had been craving. Oddly though, it felt as though his mind was wide awake. The fatigue of his body seemed to avoid the one part of Charlie that he wanted to relax.

Beneath his closed eyes, vague visions of his memories drifted to the forefront of his mind.

Charlie was standing in the stands, watching helplessly as two grey orbs crash into Oakley. Her raven hair swished around as red and gold fabric swirled around her body as she was knocked from her broom, managing to barely cling onto to one the golden rings which faded into a deep reddish glow. Hearing a light bout of laughter, Charlie looked up and his eyes immediately caught on to the fiery orange hair of Mercy… Her green-blue eyes were sparkling matching the brilliant crooked smile she sent to Remus, who reached out and fiddled with her fingers… Charlie forced his eyes back down to the crisp black words on the ivory paper… The words shifted into a brown teddy bear which he clutched to his chest, crouching behind a sofa. A booming loud voice cut over the pleads and cries of his mother. Charlie began to peek out around the side of the couch. Charlie tried to stop himself, but cringed as he saw his father's fist smash into his mother's face, her body twisting and her curly blond hair cascading through the air.

Charlie forced his eyes open and groaned. He rolled onto his other side, breaking himself out of the warmth he had been trying to preserve. Charlie heard footsteps coming up the stairs and heard the creak of the door open and the slight click as it was shut again. The footsteps shuffled across the floor and a trunk opened. Charlie guessed it was James based on where the sound was coming from. He vaguely thought something about Quidditch practice, which meant Mercy and Oakley were probably out of practice as well.

There was a rustling and Charlie heard James mutter something that he didn't hear. The rustling continued, and it sounded as though James was unfolding some sort of paper.

After a few moments, another mutter and more rustling, James called out"Charlie? Are you awake?" Charlie groaned.

"Yeah… I am… What do you want?" _I just want to sleep. _

"Have you seen Mercy? She didn't come to practice." He said. Charlie's brain stopped as the words went through his head a few times as he struggled to process it.

Charlie sat up and pulled back his curtains, and stared at James. James's hair was messy, as usual and his face was sweaty. Behind the round frames of his glasses, his hazel eyes looked worried.

"She didn't meet me in the library, so I figured she was with Oakley." James merely shook his head.

"Oakley said Mercy went to meet you and was supposed to come to Quidditch after that." Charlie climbed out of bed with a sigh. He pulled on a shirt and a pair of trousers. James started to change out of his sweaty practice clothes.

"Well, Then I'm going to go try and find her." Charlie said. He pulled on a pair of socks.

"So was I. Sirius and Oakley already went off to look together, but who really knows what those two will be up to." He said with a smirk. _That better not mean they are snogging in a broom cupboard. _Charlie shot James a dirty look. James looked over and the smirk slipped off almost in horror. "That does not mean what it sounded like!"

Charlie nodded curtly. "It better not have."

James shoved a piece of old parchment into his pocket. Charlie found this odd, but didn't say anything of it. "I'm going to try to find Remus to see if he knows anything." James said. Charlie nodded.

"Once I get my shoes on, I'm going to look around the library." Charlie said.

James nodded. "If you don't find her, just meet back here. If no one found her, then we'll tell McGonagall." He said, exiting the room.

Charlie's mind flooded with worry. _Mercy, what is going on?_

**Alright, Do me a favor and shoot a review? Puhlease! Make my day?**


	26. Chapter 26- Wake Up

**Authors Note**

**Hi, it's me again! I'm actually going to apologize for making this chapter so long. I kind of wanted to break it in half, but couldn't quite justify splitting it…So here it is! Shoot me a Review? You know? After you read it?**

**Oh yeah! Disclaimer: **I'm not JK Rowling… but y'all already knew that…

Chapter 26- Wake Up

"Do you actually know where we're going?" Sirius asked, as Oakley led him through the dimly lit seventh floor.

"Sirius, if you ask me that one more time, so I help me I will turn your hair silver and green." Oakley was in no mood to put up with Sirius right now, but for some reason he insisted on coming with her. She looked over at him, and received a cheeky grin. _Ugh… can't fucking stay mad at him… Fuck…_

"I'm just saying, this is the fifth time we have walked this way. I'm pretty sure we aren't going to find her here." He said simply.

Oakley threw her hands up in the air. "I don't even know where to look! She's not in our room; she's not in the library!" She yelled. She glared over at Sirius who raised his hands in surrender.

"I know, but we aren't going to find her by wandering around." He said calmly. _'Why is he so weirdly sensible all of a sudden.' _she thought

Oakley took a deep breath. "Alright. Let me try to think again." _'Alright, if she isn't in the library, the common room, or practice… Alright… the courtyard, or maybe the Owlery?' _Oakley thought. '_She _did_ mention something about mailing a letter later.'_

"Well, she might have gone to the Owlery. But I can't really think why she wouldn't have waited until after practice…" Her voice trailing off.

Sirius nodded, "Well, it's a start." He said, leading the way.

They walked in silence, Oakley going through scenarios in her head.

A: She got side tracked and forgot to go to meet Charlie and go to practice. This was plausible, Mercy had a tendency to be scatterbrained, but Oakley thought it was unlikely because Mercy was talking to her on the second floor, just down the hall from the library. Even she didn't usually get that badly sidetracked.

B: She was with Remus… A definite possibility but Remus was unlikely to encourage her to skip doing her homework and going to practice…

C: She got into some sort of trouble.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft "psst" repeated several times with the sound of snapping fingers and tapping on the ground. There was a soft meow, followed by some almost non-perceptible murmuring.

As Oakley peered around the corner, and her mouth opened in shock.

Blake, Oakley's roommate, was crouched on the floor holding out a treat to Mrs. Norris. Oakley wanted to jump at her and stop her before she got her eyes clawed out by the demon cat, but resisted. That cat hated Oakley plain and simple, mostly because Oakley kicked her the year before and would probably run and get Filch at the mere sight of her. The cat padded slowly over to Blake and… ate the treat? Blake began stroking her ears gently, and then began caressing her back.

Mrs. Norris was purring. PURRING! Oakley looked over at Sirius in disbelief. Sirius's face reflected her incredulity. "This is just wrong." He said, with a shudder. Oakley and Sirius walked back the other way they came.

Oakley's mind began to wander, as she cast her thoughts back to the day she and Mercy had become friends.

_**Oakley knew she shouldn't have set off the dungbombs in the corridor, but Avery was asking for it! Even as she sprinted down the hallway, she heard the soft padding of Mrs. Norris's feet behind her. **_**'I can't run forever.' **_**She thought, turning around to see how close the damned cat was. **_

"_**Oof!" She felt herself collide into someone else and they crashed to the ground. She pushed herself up quickly, looking down at the person she had knocked over. Huh, it was one of the other Gryffindor first year girls. '**_**She was one of the first people sorted… its Mercedes or something'**_**. "Sorry" She said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. She looked down the corridor and the cat was almost on top of her. 7**_

"_**Bloody Hell!" She grabbed the girls hand and dragged her away from the cat.**_

"_**What!? What's going on?" The girl asked, providing unnecessary drag. **_

"_**Just run! We don't want to get caught by that cat!"**_

"_**Well, let go of my arm; I can run for myself!" Oakley looked at the girl with a smirk. The second she let go the other girl took off, red hair fanning out behind her. **_

_**They turned a corner, and Oakley was dismayed to see it was a dead end, but the other girl wasn't looking. She was instead gazing back at her, a mischievous grin on her face. **_

_**Oakley skidded to a stop. "Look out!" Oakley warned. The girl turned around but not soon enough. She flailed her arms, but couldn't slow down her momentum and Oakley closed her eyes, expecting to hear a thump as her companion flung headlong into the wall. **_

"_**Ahgh!" There was an exclamation from the girl, but Oakley heard no thud. She looked up, and found herself alone in the deserted corridor.**_

"_**Where? Whah-!? Where are you?" she asked, walking toward the wall. **_

"_**I'm here!" She heard the girl call, somewhere beyond the wall. She reached her hand to touch it and felt the cool brick under her hand. She turned, hearing the gentle but ominous meowing quickly approaching. She leaned backward, but instead feeling the strong rock that she expected she kept going. She caught herself before she fell flat on her back. Turning, she saw the other girl staring in awe at the room they had just found. **_

_**It was vibrantly green, full of floating baskets of flowers of every color. In the very center, there was a fountain filling the room with a soothing sound.**_

"_**Isn't this gorgeous?" The girl said, looking over to Oakley. **_

_**Oakley nodded. "Yeah. It is." **_

"_**I'm Mercy… by the way." The girl said, extending her hand.**_

"_**Oakley." Oakley gave her a high- five. Mercy smiled crookedly, tilting her head slightly to the side. **_

Oakley was pulled from her thoughts as Sirius opened the door to the Owlery with a creak. The room was full of feathers, hoots, and fluffy owls of many colors yet empty of people. Oakley sighed.

"Well, I have only one more idea, and if she isn't there…" her voice broke. She didn't know why she was having such an irrational reaction to this whole situation. She looked over at Sirius, his olive skinned face in a solemn expression. _'It doesn't suit him'_, she thought tiredly. He was undeniably attractive, you could ask anyone. The way his hair fell neatly and effortlessly, his striking grey eyes, high cheekbones. But without his grin, his eyes felt cold and lifeless.

_Again fucking brain! Must you check Sirius Black out now!? _

"Well, then we just head back to the common room." He said. He threw his arm over her shoulder, flooding her nostrils with a pleasant smell that she couldn't quite place. _Ugh… he even has to smell good. _"Don't worry so much. She'll probably be there when we get back."

Oakley shrugged. "I'm about to start charging a fucking worry fee."

Sirius let out a quick bark of a laugh. "That sounds expensive." _He's so much more attractive when he smiles. _Oakley sighed. _Alright brain, here's the deal. Yes he's hot; you need to just let it go. _Oakley thought about the many girls Sirius had pursued. The girls he dated were usually more like snogging partners than girlfriends. _Is that what you want to be, just one of those girls? One of his temporary flings when he gets bored?_

_And why are you thinking about this now! Your best mate is missing and all you can think about is some bloke? What kind of a horrible person are you? _She looked forward again, trying to squelch her anxiety.

"Let's go." She said. She grinned, but in light of the circumstances it felt false and uncomfortable. She ducked under his arm and headed toward the trophy room.

888

Remus felt the weight of his tiredness seeping into his body. Usually, his transformations didn't affect him this much before the full moon. It was going to be a challenging one, '_not that they aren't usually._' He sighed and continued his way up the Grand Staircase.

"Moony!" Remus looked up and saw James peering down at him from three or four flights above.

"James? I was just headed up to the common room." Remus said back, as James plodded down the steps 3 at a time. Remus was also faintly impressed that he didn't come tumbling down the stairs and smashing his round framed glasses. As he skidded to a halt, Remus noted a rare expression for James. There was a thoughtful worry on his face, which put Remus on edge. James was rarely this serious about anything. "What's going on?"

"Do you know where Mercy is?" James asked.

Remus stared blankly back at him, a ping of confusion in his mind. "What? No. Wasn't she just at practice with you?"

James pulled out a piece of yellowed parchment. "She didn't show. I thought she might have forgotten or something. But Oakley said…"

"Why are you getting out the map?" Remus interrupted. James glanced up at him.

"I'm trying to tell you. No one knows where she is." He said, pulling out his wand.

Remus struggled to make sense of it all. _'Merce wouldn't have skipped Quidditch without a reason.'_ He thought. "Charlie doesn't know?"

James shook his head. "I just talked to him. She was supposed to meet him in the library earlier, but he said she didn't come." He put the tip of his wand on the parchment. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." The familiar lines appeared, spreading like ripples from the tip of his wand. Their map of Hogwarts filled in within the folds of the paper.

"You know, Sirius is right. I think we should add a title section." James said thoughtfully. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Later, James. Can we just find her?" He said, scanning the map. '_Not in her dorm… nor the library...' _He saw Oakley and Sirius's dots walking together toward the courtyard Mercy had shown him the other day, but oddly that room wasn't on the map. _'No, not right now. Later.'_ He thought.

"There!" James pointed to one of the hidden corridors on the second floor. And Mercy's dot was set stationary at the very edge of the corridor. The sight made Remus uneasy.

"Let's go." He said, and they ran down a few flights of stairs, before the one they had intended to use shifted to the opposite side of the second floor.

"It's fine. This will get us closer to her anyway." James said, glancing at the map. He tapped it with his wand. "Mischief Managed." He shoved the map in his pocket as they headed down the large corridor that led to the library. They ducked into one of the side hallways, stopping at a wall between two suits of armor. "Here," James said striding through the wall.

"Shit!" Remus heard him exclaim, and quickly plunged in after him. Remus didn't see James immediately, until he looked down. James was crouched on the floor next to Mercy, who was lying motionless in a pool of what appeared to be her own blood.

"Call for help!" He yelled at James, diving down next to her. James got up, and began yelling for a teacher. Remus glanced as he sprinted down the corridor, but refocused in on Mercy. Her usually expressive face was blank, her skin even paler than it usually was. Her eyes were shut; it was almost as if she was dead. He reached for her wrist, feeling desperately for a pulse. A slow rhythm thumped against his fingers, and he breathed a sigh of temporary relief as he saw her chest rising up and down faintly. "Hold on Mercy." He murmured, releasing her wrist, moving his hand to rest on her forehead.

888

Mercy felt tired and heavy_. No, heavy wasn't the right word_. She cast her mind around, _weighted_? _Cumbersome_? _Burdened_? She felt like rubbing her face in her hands. _What are words…? _

She became aware of something akin to a hum in her ears. The sound would pulse with every breath she took. _My breath…_ it felt strained, slow and difficult, like her chest didn't want to move. _Odd._

Mercy felt an urge to stir. But mentally refuted herself. Her body felt warm and comfortable, but also… _heavy? _Again, it wasn't quite the word she was looking for. It was as if even if she tried to move, she wouldn't be able to.

As if through a long tunnel, Mercy heard some queer sounds she couldn't quite place. A faint rustle, repeating periodically every minute or so: A quiet rustling sound, a quiet drip. Then there was a sniffle. _Is someone crying? Why? Who?_ The rustling sound cut over the scratching. _Paper? Books… is someone writing?_

_Where am I?_ She briefly considered the idea that she had fallen asleep at the library… _No… I don't remember… being at the library… _None of her thoughts felt even the remotest coherent or sensible.

She tried opening her eyes, but they too had an impossible heaviness to them. "HELP!" She tried to say, but no sound came out. She again tried to force her eyes open, but the blackness pulled her in and she failed again.

The rustling and scratching and quiet sniffling were swept away, replaced by the humming. The sound was madness, and Mercy wanted to cry, scream, and thrash, but the heaviness and the darkness threatened to suck her in deeper.

A voice pushed through the pulsing, a soft whisper.

_Wake up_

It echoed; its sound and potency increasing as other voices added.

_Wake up Wake up!_

_ Wake up, Mercy_

_ Wake up Wake up_

_ Mercy! Wake up!_

_ Merce. WAKE UP!_

A cacophony of the voices: All calling out to her. Mercy tried to call back. "I can't!" but still no sound came out. A lump of pain and sadness gathered in her throat.

_Heavy. Everything is heavy. AND LOUD! Too Loud!_

As soon as she thought this, the voices began to fade: being consumed in the hum.

The thought of the voices going away filled Mercy with terror, and yet she could not place where those feelings came from. "No! Don't leave me!"She cried in vain.

She was struck by a sharp cutting pain slashed across her abdomen, causing her back to arch. She no longer felt warm and comfortable, lying on the cold, hard ground. A sudden wetness. Wet and hot. Hot and oozing, sliding down her sides and soaking through to her back.

The hum disappeared, as did the weight on her eyelids.

_Wake up, _someone whispered.

Mercy's eyes flew open.


	27. Chapter 27- The Wolf

**_Author's Note-_**

**_Ummmm. Sorry it took so long. I have sort of been on a hiatus from life? And I had lost my story inspiration. I have a few more chapters I'd like to write, but this story will hopefully wrap up soon. I really struggled on where to take the story from that last chapter... and I think I was secretly__ hoping someone would review, but that didn't happen. Sooo... what chu gonna do I guess. I'm just going to move on with my life and the story. So here it is!_**

**_Disclaimer- Nothing has changed in the past few mumpfs. I still don't own Harry Potter or anything that goes with that. _**

Chapter 27- The Wolf

Remus lay in bed, his body aching and his head throbbing. His transformations usually took a physical toll before the full moon, but usually not this badly. Groaning, he rolled onto his side. Normally, the night of the full moon, Remus would be down in the hospital wing, being monitored behind closed curtains by Madam Pomfrey. But with Mercy there, well surely Charlie and Oakley would be keeping her company. This month would probably be a bad one. It seemed when he was stressed or worried the wolf was far more aggressive.

He had instead made other arrangements with Madam Pomfrey when he and James had taken her down. He would meet her on the grounds, right outside the entrance hall for the walk down to the Whomping Willow. As his thoughts drifted back to Mercy, a wave of guilt washed over him. He should be there.

Remus heard the door creak open and someone shuffled in. The footsteps stopped.

"Moony?" Peter's voice broke through the silence. Remus rolled over and grunted a greeting. "Why aren't you in the Hospital Wing?" He asked, looking concerned.

"Eh, Charlie and Oakley are down there with Mercy, so I wasn't going to head down there yet." He said rubbing his face.

"Oh, right, right." Peter said sitting on Remus's trunk. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

Remus grunted again. Truthfully he felt as though he had been run over by a mountain troll. But Pete didn't need to know that. "I'm fine."

There were more footsteps and James and Sirius entered the room.

"-and then she was purring!" Sirius said as James shuddered.

"That's just disturbing." James threw himself onto Remus's bed. "Jeez move over Moony!" He said with a grin. Remus sat up.

"You know the last time I checked this was my bed Potter." He said. James grinned at him. He merely shook his head, but smiled regardless.

Sirius sat down next to Peter on the trunk. "Moony, what are you still doing here?" He asked.

"Charlie and Oakley are still in the Hospital Wing." He said shortly.

Peter looked concernedly in his direction. "Well, what were you going to do? Just sit here?"

Remus didn't say anything again. That was exactly what he had intended on doing, at least until he needed to go down to the shack.

"You know Sirius and I could go down and distract Charlie and Oakley for a while." James said.

Sirius nodded, and smirked, "Yeah, James and I are pretty good at making arses of ourselves."

Remus chuckled, "Well you're not wrong. But no. I'll just go down to the willow in about an hour." He lay back against his pillows. James put his hand on his knee, but didn't say anything. Remus felt lucky as he closed his eyes. Arses they may be, but he couldn't ask for three better mates.

James, Sirius, and Peter took it as a personal duty to take Remus to the grounds. As much as Remus had protested, he was grateful for the company. One of the most painful things about the full moon was the loneliness, not that there was anything anyone could do about it. Werewolves were dangerous. So Remus gritted his teeth and dealt with it.

Peter kept his eyes on the Map as they dodged other students. They took back corridors and secret passage ways.

Remus began to feel weak as they trudged down a final set of stairs. He didn't usually have so far to walk when his condition got more serious. He had a small footfall but managed to catch himself. His friends shot him a concerned look. He hated feeling so fragile.

The foursome crept quietly through the doors and down the path toward the willow. It was a path Remus had trodden many times, but this time a wayward stick caught under his foot and he tumbled downwards. He caught himself, scraped up his hand on a rock. He pushed himself up. His hand was stinging and blood ran out of his palm. He sighed and didn't look at his mates as continued toward the willow. Madam Pomfrey was already waiting for Remus at the tree.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. James looked him dead in the eyes. "Don't worry about Charlie and Oakley tomorrow. We'll take care of it." Remus shook his head. He hadn't been able to come up with a plan for tomorrow when he was recovering. The last thing he needed was for Charlie or Oakley or hell even Mercy to seem him with the standard gashes he had after a transformation. But what could be done?

"How can y-"

"Listen." Sirius said. "Me, James and Pete have got it worked out. Don't worry mate. Just get yourself through tonight, okay?"

Remus nodded.

His friends ducked under James's invisibility cloak and Remus heard their footsteps heading toward the castle. He turned to finish his trudge down the path. Madam Pomfrey tsked as she saw his bloody palm, but this was truly routine by this point. She would ask him questions; he would grunt as a response.

She pushed the secret knot on the Willow and guided him through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. When they got into the damaged building Remus tried not to look around. He knew what he was facing. Floor boards torn apart, large gashes in the wall paper.

He sat down slowly on a torn up sofa as Madam Pomfrey fussed over him. His arms tingled.

Madam Pomfrey had left after making sure he was as comfortable as he was going to get. She had also left so that he could strip out of his clothes. Remus appreciated this small attempt to preserve his modesty, but seeing as she was usually there when he came to after his transformation in the hospital wing or sometimes even on the floor of the shack, he knew it was nothing she hadn't seen before.

He tucked his clothes in one of the nooks underneath the floorboards. Of course knew for sure the wolf would smell the human on them and try ripping them to shreds again, but he tried not to make it too easy.

He sat down on the couch again, feeling quite vulnerable now. He probably only had a few more moments of agency in his own body. He never knew what to do with this time. If he thought too hard he almost forced himself into existential crisis, which would almost certainly make his transformation more aggressive.

Remus took a sharp breath as he felt the familiar pain course through his veins. Panic he would never really stifle flooded through him. Cold fear, hot pain. So much pain he felt as though this time, maybe he could die. But deep down he knew he wouldn't. So he closed his eyes and let the wolf have its way with him.

_**Please shoot me a review if you can ;) **_


	28. Chapter 28- Coincidence? I think NOT!

_Oi Friends! Have I mentioned how grateful I am that you guys read this? Well I am... So here. I love you 3 ... Here's the next chappa ;)_

_Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter and anything associated with him. Kay Bye. _

**Chapter 28- Coincidence? I think NOT!**

Oakley looked up as she heard a groan beside her. Mercy shifted slightly in the white sheets of the bed; her eyes fluttered open.

"Hey," Oakley said quietly. Mercy looked at her in confusion. She tried to sit up and let out a spastic gasp. "Oi! Don't move around so much, Merce."

Mercy settled back into the bed, and in a croaky sigh muttered, "Fuuuuuuck." She blinked and looked back to Oakley, "What happened to me?"

"Well…" Oakley took a deep breath. Mercy stared expectantly. "Er… Well… you're in the hospital wing," She said rather lamely.

Mercy's face went blank and her eye twitched. "I kind of figured that out on my own, mate." She continued to stare, but Oakley didn't have much more to offer. She couldn't think of what to say. Silence continued as they stared at each other.

"Well are you going to tell me what the fuck happened or am I gonna have to…"

"I don't know what happened, Mercy." Oakley interrupted, cutting across her angry retort. "You disappeared."

Mercy looked back to the ceiling, and closed her eyes thoughtfully. Oakley could tell she was trying to remember, but when Mercy sighed she knew it had been fruitless. "I've got nothing, Oaks. Everything is fuzzy." There was more silence. "What day even is it …?" Mercy said offhandedly.

"Saturday." Mercy's eyes flew open again and she looked over at Oakley in alarm.

"Saturday!? Jesus! How long have I been out?"

"Well… we found you on Thursday evening. So about three days."

Mercy's brow furrowed thoughtfully again. "Thursday, huh… I can vaguely remember class… but then…" She sighed. "Nothing. I have nothing."

"Well I can fill in a little." Oakley began. "You had dinner with me and Charlie, and you were going to meet him in the library before coming to practice. You didn't show up to either. So… We went looking for you."

"Oh bloody hell! I went and missed practice too? Was Trina pissed?" Mercy asked. Oakley shook her head. Here Mercy is lying in a hospital bed and she was most worried about Quidditch practice? _And Charlie thought I was bad… well maybe he has a point…_

"I mean… sort of. But I think she was mostly concerned. Cause it wasn't like you mate." Oakley shrugged.

Mercy was silent again for a few seconds before asking, "Where's Remus?" Oakley couldn't hold back a grin. "Oh and Charlie." She added.

"Well Remus I think has been sleeping off a bad cold. At least that's what James said. But it's odd he isn't down here, now that I think about it." Mercy looked conflicted. Oakley knew her well enough to see that she was both concerned and disappointed. "You know you ought to be glad."

Mercy looked over surprised. "Why?"

Oakley grinned. "You were drooling something fierce this morning. It wasn't attractive."

Mercy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. But Charlie?"

"Oh well, he's in the library. Big surprise there." Oakley said. Mercy nodded, but Oakley could tell she was still feeling slightly disappointed. "Well you can't expect him to sit around here can you? It's not like you make great company when you're knocked out."

"I didn't say anything." Mercy said, blushing angrily.

Oakley shook her head. "You didn't have to. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's consolidating his notes for you. So you shouldn't be complaining."

"I wasn't!" Mercy said indignantly, before blushing more. Oakley chuckled. Riling her up was far too easy at the moment. "Aw… but he doesn't have to do that."

"To be honest, I actually think he does." Oakley said plainly. Mercy looked over confused again. "Well I think it's like… therapeutic" She thought for a moment. "You know. He was really mad. Just about as mad as when he got... Well I just haven't seen him that mad in while…" She said. Mercy nodded.

"Okay can you run me through what you know? So I was just found knocked out somewhere? Like what was wrong with me?"

"Well your… there were gashes all over you stomach. Like blood everywhere." Mercy gingerly ran her hand over the bandages on her abdomen. "James and Remus found you. I still don't really know how, because Sirius and I must have walked around the second floor about a dozen times."

"Strange…" Mercy said, her voice trailing off.

"Ah, you're awake Miss Baines." Madam Pomfrey hurried over. "Why didn't you call for me Miss Milova?"

"She was alright." Oakley said, raising her eyebrows.

Madam Pomfrey clicked her tongue in annoyance, and began waving her wand over Mercy and muttering to herself.

Oakley and Mercy didn't have much time to talk, because Madam Pomfrey kept insisting Mercy needed more sleep while Mercy argued in vain that she had already spent a good two days unconscious.

There was a loud thud on the door to the Hospital Wing. Startled, Mercy and Oakley turned toward the sound. After a muffled curse, the door hurtled open and crashed loudly into the wall. Blake ran through the doorway.

"What is all this racket Miss McLellan? This is a hospital!" Madam Pomfrey said indignantly.

"Please ma'am!" Blake said breathlessly. "It's Kat. Dez and I found her all bloodied up in a corridor."

Madam Pomfrey's face softened into a worried gaze. "Not another one. Where is she?"

"Dez is bringing her down; he's not far behind me." On cue, Dez rounded the corner carrying the still figure of Karina Hughes, a Hufflepuff in her year.

There was blood all over her forehead from a nasty gash, as well as on her cheek and down the right side of her torso. Oakley looked over at Mercy, whose face reflected her startled expression. She was white as a sheet.

Oakley knew she needed to stifle her curiosity and go, before Madam Pomfrey forced her out anyway. Oakley stood and exchanged one last look with Mercy. "Hey Merce… try to get up and about soon. It's your turn to watch Charlie."

Mercy shook her head and with a grimace said, "I'll do what I can." Oakley shut the door behind her with a click.

The attempt to walk to the Gryffindor common room was long, because with everything that was going on, Oakley kept making wrong turns. She ended up in the Owlery somehow…

With a sigh she sat down on a windowsill. An owl fluttered down to her; Charlie's owl.

"Sagitta…" She said softly. Sagitta hooted expectantly and poked her beak repeatedly at her pockets. "You're probably looking for crisps or something. Sorry mate, I don't have any." Sagitta gave her a surly look, but didn't fly away.

"To be honest, I don't even know how I ended up here." She gently stroked Sagitta's feathers. She sighed.

She knew she had a bunch of homework to do. But with everything going on, well that didn't seem important anymore.

Nothing had been found out about Mercy, and the circumstances certainly were infinitely more mysterious now that Karina was hurt too. _This can't be just a coincidence, can it?_

"No it can't possibly be a coincidence. There has to be something…" She said to Sagitta. "Look at me, I've been talking to an Owl. I must be losing my mind."

_He called me a Mudblood_. The memory of Karina's voice stirred its way to the forefront of her thoughts.

Oakley stopped stroking Sagitta. Karina is Muggleborn. That was the connection.

"Of course! That's what it is! Sagitta I could kiss you!" Oakley said, rubbing the owl affectionately.

Oakley jumped as the door to the Owlery creaked open. Sagitta nipped her finger and flew to the rafters. Oakley whipped around to face the door as a messy mass of black hair became visible.

_James… Shit. _Oakley froze, as the boy stuck his head through the door.

He grinned at her. "So, you're talking to the owls now?"

Oakley blushed, but was glad it was just James. "It's not what you think." She said, grinning. "What are you doing up here?"

"Well I was going to send Sirius a howler."

Oakley cocked her head to the side. _Why is he sending a howler to his best friend? _"Errrr... Why?"

"I just had an idea that it would be pretty funny if I sent him a howler that screamed... well instead of like, angry stuff like happy things?" He ruffled his hair with a thoughtful expression on his face. Lily, one of her dorm-mates hated it when he did that, because she thought he only did it to make his hair look messy and windswept: like he had just been out flying. Truthfully, Oakley wondered if it might also be a nervous habit. Even so, she felt bad that James had such a big crush on Lily. He wouldn't leave her alone half the time. James was... complicated. He could be a decent bloke sometimes, but sometimes Oakley had to admit his bullying, especially of a boy named Snape, could be petty and unwarranted sometimes.

Oakley shook her head. "Are you always this articulate?"

"Only on Tuesdays... but what are you doing?" He finally walked into the room and sat down on the windowsill. "Did you need an expert opinion?" He added with a grin.

"Well I didn't really mean to end up here... I was just thinking." She said, sitting next to him.

"About Mercy." It wasn't a question. He just know.

Oakley nodded. "Yeah. Because Karina Hughes just got brought to the Hospital Wing and she was covered in blood." James's mouth opened in surprise.

"What? Do you know what happened?"

"Erm. It was queer because it was very... like déjá vu. Blake came running in and Dez was carrying her and she was just covered in blood." James ruffled his hair again. Maybe it was just a habit.

"Well that's... Do you think maybe... Well could it just be a coincidence?" He asked, somewhat hopelessly.

Oakley shook her head. "See that's what I thought. But isn't it weird that two students attacked, found abandoned in a corridor, and both of them are Muggleborn?" Jamess eyes widened in surprise behind the frames of his glasses; then his mouth twitched in disgust.

"That's revolting." He said simply.

Oakley nodded. "Its terrible." If this was the case, was someone targeting Muggleborns? How far will they take it?

_Okay that's it for now. I got some new stuff for you coming up soon! (Like really soon. I won't promise by the time of the next full moon... But that is actually my goal here) Please shoot me a review if you have the chance. Buh bye!_


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